Lero - The Irish Software Research Centre, Tierney Building, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
Ir J Med Sci. 2022 Feb;191(1):103-112. doi: 10.1007/s11845-021-02529-y. Epub 2021 Feb 18.
Digital Contact Tracing is seen as a key tool in reducing the propagation of Covid-19. But it requires high uptake and continued participation across the population to be effective. To achieve sufficient uptake/participation, health authorities should address, and thus be aware of, user concerns.
This work manually analyzes user reviews of the Irish Heath Service Executive's (HSE) Contact Tracker app, to identify user concerns and to lay the foundations for subsequent, large-scale, automated analyses of reviews. While this might seem tightly scoped to the Irish context, the HSE app provides the basis for apps in many jurisdictions in the USA and Europe.
Manual analysis of (1287) user reviews from the Google/Apple playstores was performed, to identify the aspects of the app that users focused on, and the positive/negative sentiment expressed.
The findings suggest a largely positive sentiment towards the app, and that users thought it handled data protection and transparency aspects well. But feedback suggests that users would appreciate more targeted feedback on the incidence of the virus, and facilities for more proactive engagement, like notifications that prompt users to submit their health status daily. Finally, the analysis suggests that the "android battery" issue and the backward-compatibility issue with iPhones seriously impacted retention/uptake of the app respectively.
The HSE have responded to the public's desire for targeted feedback in newer versions, but should consider increasing the app's proactive engagement. The results suggest they should also raise the backward compatibility issue, regarding older iPhones, with Apple.
数字接触追踪被视为减少新冠病毒传播的关键工具。但要使其有效，需要在整个人群中实现高使用率和持续参与。为了达到足够的使用率/参与率，卫生当局应该解决用户关注的问题，并因此了解这些问题。
这项工作手动分析了爱尔兰卫生服务行政署（HSE）联系人追踪器应用程序的用户评论，以识别用户关注的问题，并为后续对评论进行大规模自动化分析奠定基础。虽然这似乎仅限于爱尔兰的情况，但 HSE 应用程序为美国和欧洲许多司法管辖区的应用程序提供了基础。
对 Google/Apple 应用商店中的（1287）用户评论进行了手动分析，以确定用户关注的应用程序方面，以及表达的积极/消极情绪。
调查结果表明，用户对该应用程序的评价基本为正面，并且用户认为它很好地处理了数据保护和透明度方面的问题。但是反馈表明，用户希望更有针对性地了解病毒的发病率，并提供更积极主动的参与方式，例如提示用户每天提交健康状况的通知。最后，分析表明，“安卓电池”问题和 iPhone 的向后兼容性问题分别严重影响了应用程序的保留/使用率。
HSE 已经针对公众对针对性反馈的需求在新版本中做出了回应，但应考虑增加应用程序的主动参与度。结果表明，他们还应该与苹果公司一起提高对旧款 iPhone 的向后兼容性问题的重视。
