Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa'adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam.
School of Pharmacy, KPJ Healthcare University College, Nilai, Malaysia.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2020 Sep 16;8(9):e19796. doi: 10.2196/19796.
BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) app use is a major concern because of the possible dissemination of misinformation that could harm the users. Particularly, it can be difficult for health care professionals to recommend a suitable app for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) education and self-monitoring purposes. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to analyze and evaluate the contents as well as features of COVID-19 mobile apps. The findings are instrumental in helping health care professionals to identify suitable mobile apps for COVID-19 self-monitoring and education. The results of the mobile apps' assessment could potentially help mobile app developers improve or modify their existing mobile app designs to achieve optimal outcomes. METHODS: The search for the mHealth apps available in the android-based Play Store and the iOS-based App Store was conducted between April 18 and May 5, 2020. The region of the App Store where we performed the search was the United States, and a virtual private network app was used to locate and access COVID-19 mobile apps from all countries on the Google Play Store. The inclusion criteria were apps that are related to COVID-19 with no restriction in language type. The basic features assessment criteria used for comparison were the requirement for free subscription, internet connection, education or advisory content, size of the app, ability to export data, and automated data entry. The functionality of the apps was assessed according to knowledge (information on COVID-19), tracing or mapping of COVID-19 cases, home monitoring surveillance, online consultation with a health authority, and official apps run by health authorities. RESULTS: Of the 223 COVID-19-related mobile apps, only 30 (19.9%) found in the App Store and 28 (44.4%) in the Play Store matched the inclusion criteria. In the basic features assessment, most App Store (10/30, 33.3%) and Play Store (10/28, 35.7%) apps scored 4 out of 7 points. Meanwhile, the outcome of the functionality assessment for most App Store apps (13/30, 43.3%) was a score of 3 compared to android-based apps (10/28, 35.7%), which scored 2 (out of the maximum 5 points). Evaluation of the basic functions showed that 75.0% (n=36) of the 48 included mobile apps do not require a subscription, 56.3% (n=27) provide symptom advice, and 41.7% (n=20) have educational content. In terms of the specific functions, more than half of the included mobile apps are official mobile apps maintained by a health authority for COVID-19 information provision. Around 37.5% (n=18) and 31.3% (n=15) of the mobile apps have tracing or mapping and home monitoring surveillance functions, respectively, with only 17% (n=8) of the mobile apps equipped with an online consultation function. CONCLUSIONS: Most iOS-based apps incorporate infographic mapping of COVID-19 cases, while most android-based apps incorporate home monitoring surveillance features instead of providing focused educational content on COVID-19. It is important to evaluate the contents and features of COVID-19 mobile apps to guide users in choosing a suitable mobile app based on their requirements.
背景:移动健康(mHealth)应用的使用引起了广泛关注,因为这些应用可能会传播错误信息,从而对用户造成伤害。特别是,医疗保健专业人员很难为冠状病毒病(COVID-19)的教育和自我监测目的推荐合适的应用程序。
目的:本研究旨在分析和评估 COVID-19 移动应用程序的内容和功能。研究结果有助于帮助医疗保健专业人员识别适合 COVID-19 自我监测和教育的移动应用程序。对移动应用程序的评估结果可能有助于移动应用程序开发人员改进或修改现有的移动应用程序设计,以达到最佳效果。
方法:于 2020 年 4 月 18 日至 5 月 5 日在基于安卓的 Play 商店和基于 iOS 的 App Store 中搜索 mHealth 应用程序。我们在 App Store 中进行搜索的地区是美国,并且使用虚拟专用网络应用程序在 Google Play Store 中查找和访问来自所有国家的 COVID-19 移动应用程序。纳入标准是与 COVID-19 相关的应用程序,没有语言类型的限制。用于比较的基本功能评估标准是免费订阅、互联网连接、教育或咨询内容、应用程序大小、数据导出能力和自动数据输入要求。根据知识(关于 COVID-19 的信息)、COVID-19 病例的追踪或映射、家庭监测监测、与卫生当局的在线咨询以及卫生当局运行的官方应用程序对应用程序的功能进行评估。
结果:在 223 个与 COVID-19 相关的移动应用程序中,仅在 App Store 中找到的 30 个(占 19.9%)和在 Play Store 中找到的 28 个(占 44.4%)符合纳入标准。在基本功能评估中,大多数 App Store(30/30,33.3%)和 Play Store(28/28,35.7%)应用程序的得分为 7 分中的 4 分。同时,大多数 App Store 应用程序(13/30,43.3%)的功能评估结果得分为 3 分,而基于安卓的应用程序(10/28,35.7%)得分为 2 分(最高得分为 5 分)。基本功能评估显示,48 个包含的移动应用程序中有 75.0%(n=36)不需要订阅,56.3%(n=27)提供症状建议,41.7%(n=20)具有教育内容。就特定功能而言,包含的移动应用程序中有一半以上是由卫生当局维护的官方移动应用程序,用于提供 COVID-19 信息。大约 37.5%(n=18)和 31.3%(n=15)的移动应用程序具有 COVID-19 病例的追踪或映射和家庭监测监测功能,只有 17%(n=8)的移动应用程序配备了在线咨询功能。
结论:大多数基于 iOS 的应用程序都采用 COVID-19 病例的信息图映射,而大多数基于安卓的应用程序则采用家庭监测监测功能,而不是提供关于 COVID-19 的重点教育内容。评估 COVID-19 移动应用程序的内容和功能非常重要,可以帮助用户根据自己的需求选择合适的移动应用程序。
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