Cara Care app

Cara Care app

  • An app to track your bowel symptoms.
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Cara Care app By HiDoc Technologies GmbH

Features

  • Diary.
  • Tracking.
  • Reminders.
Clinical review 

2 star review


Read a clinical review, including safety concerns, below.

Security and privacy Does the app:
  • Collect medical information? Yes
  • Require a login? No
  • Have password protection? Unsure
  • Have a privacy policy? Unable to be located (Privacy policy(external link))
  • Require internet access to use? No

Read more about safety and security when using apps.

Brochures:
Tips to improve your privacy and security [PDF, 65 KB] Healthify He Puna Waiora, NZ
Staying safe online(external link) Netsafe, NZ

Cost Free
How to get the app

The app is a combination of a food diary and symptom diary.  It is designed to map foods consumed to symptoms and display the days in which symptoms were at worst compared to days when symptoms were reduced.  Foods eaten on those days can then be reviewed. For the complete app description, go to Google Play(external link) , iTunes(external link)  and the app website(external link) or for a more detailed review, see reviews below.

PROS CONS 

Great recipes that can be filtered for specific diets such as gluten-free, FODMAP-free, egg-free.

It was quite difficult to add in foods with no clear instructions of what to do.

✘ The recipes filter for histamine free did not provide any main meal recipes and there were limited meals for a low FODMAP diet.

 

Clinical review

2 star review



Reviewer
: Leigh O’Brien, Consultant Dietitian
Date of review: November, 2022
Platform: Android
Version: 5285
Comment: Cara Care was not particularly useful as it wasn't easy to figure out how to enter the foods and the pop up food suggestions did not apply to the foods I was selecting. It would be somewhat beneficial to those who want to to monitor, levels of stress, sleep activity and GI and not GI symptoms to see if there were differences between days. However, it was not the most user friendly app. 
Safety concerns: It has pop up health warnings for the various health warnings.  There are inconsistencies between them – ie malnutrition is stated as a health concern for ulcerative colitis but not Crohn’s disease.  Also, leaky gut is listed as a health condition whereas it is not recognised as such. 
New Zealand relevance: It did not list common NZ medications such as probiotics.

References

  1. Devan H, Farmery D, Peebles L, Grainger R. Evaluation of Self-Management Support Functions in Apps for People With Persistent Pain: Systematic Review.(external link) JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019 Feb 12;7(2)
  2. Rahman QA, Janmohamed T, Pirbaglou M, et al. Patterns of User Engagement With the Mobile App, Manage My Pain: Results of a Data Mining Investigation.(external link) JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2017 Jul 12;5(7):e96. 
  3. Chaudhry BM. No gain without pain: using pain tracking mobile Apps(external link). Mhealth. 2016 Jul 4;2:27. 
  4. Lalloo C, Jibb LA, Rivera J, et al. "There's a Pain App for That": Review of Patient-targeted Smartphone Applications for Pain Management.(external link) Clin J Pain. 2015 Jun;31(6):557-63. 
  5. Wallace LS, Dhingra LK. A systematic review of smartphone applications for chronic pain available for download in the United States.(external link) J Opioid Manag. 2014 Jan-Feb;10(1):63-8.  

Disclaimer: The NZ Health App Library is a free consumer service to help you decide whether a health app would be suitable for you. Our review process is independent. We have no relationship with the app developers or companies and no responsibility for the service they provide. This means that if you have an issue with one of the apps we have reviewed, you will need to contact the app developer or company directly.

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Healthify He Puna Waiora, NZ

Credits: Healthify editorial team. Healthify is brought to you by Health Navigator Charitable Trust.