BeYou+ is an innovative mHealth application for people living with HIV, providing self-management strategies to improve health and well-being. BeYou+ provides HIV specific information in a reliable and accessible way, enabling users to focus on being healthy, living well and achieving personal goals.
The app is the brainchild of Darren Brown, a specialist Physiotherapist at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, with content provided by HIV experts from across the HIV service including Kobler Clinic, 56 Dean Street, John Hunter Clinic, 10 Hammersmith Broadway and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. BeYou+ was funded and developed by hospital charity CW+ together with its technology partner Imagineear.
The HIV specific information in BeYou+ is separated into three sections – body, mind and life. Over 40 sub-sections provide helpful advice, guidance and links to external resources on the Internet specific to the user’s requirements. BeYou+ also provides practical tools to support self-management including: setting personalised goals; inputting health and medication information; setting reminders that sync with the user’s calendar; and many other functionalities. Users are sent daily reminders to support achieving their goals and can receive reward videos upon success. The app secures patient confidentiality with a personalised four-digit passcode to access the app. All data is stored on the device and not shared with anyone else.
Darren says: “I am delighted that people living with HIV are now able to use BeYou+ to focus on being healthy, living well and achieving meaningful goals. To have specific, reliable, up-to-date informationprovided in a convenient and accessible way, means users can access what they need, when they want it, with the aim to improve self-management skills, quality of life and general well-being. I am passionate about my work and the people I work with on a daily basis, so I am really excited that my idea has been transformed into BeYou+”.
BeYou+ was part-funded through an initiative between CW+ and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, called the Enterprising Health Partnership, which was match funded by Imagineear. The Enterprising Health initiative funds and supports innovative ideas from hospital staff which will make a real difference to patients’ lives and which generate revenue or real cost savings for the hospital.
BeYou+ is available to download on Apple and Android devices. For more information and to watch a short video about BeYou+, please visit www.cwplus.org.uk/beyouplus, www.twitter.com/BeYouPlus or www.facebook.com/BeYouPlus
