SocialWellth, Inc, Las Vegas, NV, United States.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2015 May 13;3(2):e40. doi: 10.2196/mhealth.4283.
The explosion of mobile phones with app capabilities coupled with increased expectations of the patient-consumers' role in managing their care presents a unique opportunity to use mobile health (mHealth) apps.
The aim of this paper is to identify the features and characteristics most-valued by patient-consumers ("users") that contribute positively to the rating of an app.
A collection of 234 apps associated with reputable health organizations found in the medical, health, and fitness categories of the Apple iTunes store and Google Play marketplace was assessed manually for the presence of 12 app features and characteristics. Regression analysis was used to determine which, if any, contributed positively to a user's rating of the app.
Analysis of these 12 features explained 9.3% (R(2)=.093 n=234, P<.001) of the variation in an app's rating, with only 5 reaching statistical significance. Of the 5 reaching statistical significance, plan or orders, export of data, usability, and cost contributed positively to a user's rating, while the tracker feature detracted from it.
These findings suggest that users appreciate features that save time over current methods and identify an app as valuable when it is simple and intuitive to use, provides specific instructions to better manage a condition, and shares data with designated individuals. Although tracking is a core function of most health apps, this feature may detract from a user's experience when not executed properly. Further investigation into mHealth app features is worthwhile given the inability of the most common features to explain a large portion of an app's rating. In the future, studies should focus on one category in the app store, specific diseases, or desired behavior change, and methods should include measuring the quality of each feature, both through manual assessment and evaluation of user reviews. Additional investigations into understanding the impact of synergistic features, incentives, social media, and gamification are also warranted to identify possible future trends.
具有应用程序功能的手机爆炸式增长，加上患者消费者在管理自身护理方面的角色期望不断提高，这为使用移动健康 (mHealth) 应用程序提供了独特的机会。
本文旨在确定对患者消费者（“用户”）最有价值的功能和特征，这些特征有助于提高应用程序的评分。
从 Apple iTunes 商店和 Google Play 市场的医疗、健康和健身类别中评估了 234 个与知名健康组织相关的应用程序，手动评估了 12 个应用程序功能和特征的存在情况。回归分析用于确定哪些特征（如果有的话）对用户对应用程序的评分有积极影响。
对这 12 个特征的分析解释了应用程序评分变化的 9.3%（R²=.093，n=234，P<.001），只有 5 个特征具有统计学意义。在具有统计学意义的 5 个特征中，计划或医嘱、数据导出、可用性和成本对用户的评分有积极影响，而跟踪器功能则对评分产生负面影响。
这些发现表明，用户欣赏可以节省时间的功能，并认为易于使用、提供特定说明以更好地管理病情以及与指定人员共享数据的应用程序具有价值。尽管跟踪是大多数健康应用程序的核心功能，但如果执行不当，此功能可能会降低用户体验。鉴于最常见的功能无法解释应用程序评分的很大一部分，因此进一步研究移动健康应用程序功能是值得的。未来的研究应专注于应用商店中的一个类别、特定疾病或所需的行为改变，方法应包括通过手动评估和评估用户评论来衡量每个功能的质量。还需要进一步研究以了解协同功能、激励措施、社交媒体和游戏化的影响，以确定可能的未来趋势。
