Biviji Rizwana, Vest Joshua R, Dixon Brian E, Cullen Theresa, Harle Christopher A
Science of Healthcare Delivery, College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
Department of Health Policy and Management, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Transl Behav Med. 2021 Mar 16;11(2):504-515. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibaa039.
Maternal and infant health (MIH) mobile applications (apps) are increasingly popular and frequently used for health education and decision making. Interventions grounded in theory-based behavior change techniques (BCTs) are shown to be effective in promoting healthy behavior changes. MIH apps have the potential to be useful tools, yet the extent to which they incorporate BCTs is still unknown. The objective of this study was to assess the presence of BCTs in popular MIH apps available in the Apple App and Google Play stores. Twenty-nine popular MIH apps were coded for the presence of 16 BCTs using the mHealth app taxonomy. Popular MIH apps whose purpose was to provide health education or decision-making support to pregnant women or parents/caregivers of infants were included in the final sample. On an average, the reviewed apps included seven BCTs (range 2-16). Techniques such as personalization, review of general or specific goals, macro tailoring, self-monitoring of goals, and health behavior linkages were most frequently present. No differences in the presence of BCTs between paid and free apps were observed. Popular MIH apps typically included only a minority of BCTs found to be useful for health promotion. However, apps developed by healthcare developers incorporated a higher number of BCTs within the app content. Therefore, app developers and policymakers may consider strategies to increase health expert involvement in app design and content delivery.
母婴健康（MIH）移动应用程序（应用）越来越受欢迎，并经常用于健康教育和决策。基于理论的行为改变技术（BCTs）的干预措施已被证明在促进健康行为改变方面是有效的。MIH应用程序有潜力成为有用的工具，但其纳入BCTs的程度仍然未知。本研究的目的是评估苹果应用商店和谷歌Play商店中流行的MIH应用程序中BCTs的存在情况。使用移动健康应用分类法，对29个流行的MIH应用程序进行了16种BCTs存在情况的编码。最终样本包括旨在为孕妇或婴儿的父母/照顾者提供健康教育或决策支持的流行MIH应用程序。平均而言，审查的应用程序包括7种BCTs（范围为2 - 16种）。个性化、一般或特定目标的审查、宏观定制、目标的自我监测以及健康行为联系等技术最为常见。付费应用程序和免费应用程序在BCTs的存在方面没有观察到差异。流行的MIH应用程序通常只包含少数被发现对健康促进有用的BCTs。然而，由医疗保健开发者开发的应用程序在应用内容中纳入了更多的BCTs。因此，应用程序开发者和政策制定者可能会考虑采取策略，增加健康专家对应用程序设计和内容交付的参与度。
