Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2020 Mar 3;8(3):e16956. doi: 10.2196/16956.
With thousands of health apps in app stores globally, it is crucial to systemically and thoroughly evaluate the quality of these apps due to their potential influence on health decisions and outcomes. The Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) is the only currently available tool that provides a comprehensive, multidimensional evaluation of app quality, which has been used to compare medical apps from American and European app stores in various areas, available in English, Italian, Spanish, and German. However, this tool is not available in Arabic.
This study aimed to translate and adapt MARS to Arabic and validate the tool with a sample of health apps aimed at managing or preventing obesity and associated disorders.
We followed a well-established and defined "universalist" process of cross-cultural adaptation using a mixed methods approach. Early translations of the tool, accompanied by confirmation of the contents by two rounds of separate discussions, were included and culminated in a final version, which was then back-translated into English. Two trained researchers piloted the MARS in Arabic (MARS-Ar) with a sample of 10 weight management apps obtained from Google Play and the App Store. Interrater reliability was established using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). After reliability was ascertained, the two researchers independently evaluated a set of additional 56 apps.
MARS-Ar was highly aligned with the original English version. The ICCs for MARS-Ar (0.836, 95% CI 0.817-0.853) and MARS English (0.838, 95% CI 0.819-0.855) were good. The MARS-Ar subscales were highly correlated with the original counterparts (P<.001). The lowest correlation was observed in the area of usability (r=0.685), followed by aesthetics (r=0.827), information quality (r=0.854), engagement (r=0.894), and total app quality (r=0.897). Subjective quality was also highly correlated (r=0.820).
MARS-Ar is a valid instrument to assess app quality among trained Arabic-speaking users of health and fitness apps. Researchers and public health professionals in the Arab world can use the overall MARS score and its subscales to reliably evaluate the quality of weight management apps. Further research is necessary to test the MARS-Ar on apps addressing various health issues, such as attention or anxiety prevention, or sexual and reproductive health.
随着全球应用商店中数千种健康应用程序的出现，由于这些应用程序可能会对健康决策和结果产生影响，因此对其质量进行系统而全面的评估至关重要。移动应用程序评级量表（MARS）是唯一一种可提供应用程序质量全面多维评估的工具，已用于比较来自美国和欧洲应用商店的各种医学应用程序，可提供英语、意大利语、西班牙语和德语版本。然而，该工具在阿拉伯语中不可用。
本研究旨在将 MARS 翻译和改编为阿拉伯语，并使用针对肥胖症和相关疾病管理或预防的健康应用程序样本对该工具进行验证。
我们采用了一种经过充分确立和定义的“普遍主义”跨文化适应过程，采用混合方法。工具的早期翻译，并通过两轮单独讨论进行内容确认，被包括在内，并最终形成了一个最终版本，然后将其反向翻译回英语。两名经过培训的研究人员使用从 Google Play 和 App Store 获得的 10 个体重管理应用程序，对阿拉伯语版的 MARS（MARS-Ar）进行了测试。采用组内相关系数（ICC）确定重测信度。在确定信度后，两名研究人员独立评估了另外 56 个应用程序。
MARS-Ar 与原始英语版本高度一致。MARS-Ar（0.836，95%置信区间 0.817-0.853）和 MARS 英语（0.838，95%置信区间 0.819-0.855）的 ICC 值良好。MARS-Ar 子量表与原始量表高度相关（P<.001）。相关性最低的是可用性领域（r=0.685），其次是美学（r=0.827）、信息质量（r=0.854）、参与度（r=0.894）和整体应用程序质量（r=0.897）。主观质量也高度相关（r=0.820）。
MARS-Ar 是评估阿拉伯语健康和健身应用程序用户应用程序质量的有效工具。阿拉伯世界的研究人员和公共卫生专业人员可以使用整体 MARS 评分及其子量表来可靠地评估体重管理应用程序的质量。需要进一步研究来测试 MARS-Ar 在针对注意力或焦虑预防或性和生殖健康等各种健康问题的应用程序上的应用。
