Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States.
Dana Incorporated, Novi, MI, United States.
J Med Internet Res. 2024 Sep 3;26:e49714. doi: 10.2196/49714.
eHealth interventions have proven to be valuable resources for users with diverse mental and behavioral health concerns. As these technologies continue to proliferate, both academic researchers and commercial app creators are leveraging the use of features that foster a sense of social connection on these digital platforms. Yet, the literature often insufficiently represents the functionality of these key social features, resulting in a lack of understanding of how they are being implemented.
This study aimed to conduct a methodical review of commercially available eHealth apps to establish the SoCAP (social communication, affiliation, and presence) taxonomy of social features in eHealth apps. Our goal was to examine what types of social features are being used in eHealth apps and how they are implemented.
A scoping review of commercially available eHealth apps was conducted to develop a taxonomy of social features. First, a shortlist of the 20 highest-rated eHealth apps was derived from One Mind PsyberGuide, a nonprofit organization with trained researchers who rate apps based on their (1) credibility, (2) user experience, and (3) transparency. Next, both mobile- and web-based versions of each app were double-coded by 2 trained raters to derive a list of social features. Subsequently, the social features were organized by category and tested on other apps to ensure their completeness.
Four main categories of social features emerged: (1) communication features (videoconferencing, discussion boards, etc), (2) social presence features (chatbots, reminders, etc), (3) affiliation and identity features (avatars, profiles, etc), and (4) other social integrations (social network and other app integrations). Our review shows that eHealth apps frequently use resource-intensive interactions (eg, videoconferencing with a clinician and phone calls from a facilitator), which may be helpful for participants with high support needs. Furthermore, among commercially available eHealth apps, there is a strong reliance on automated features (eg, avatars, personalized multimedia, and tailored content) that enhance a sense of social presence without requiring a high level of input from a clinician or staff member.
The SoCAP taxonomy includes a comprehensive list of social features and brief descriptions of how these features work. This classification system will provide academic and commercial eHealth app creators with an understanding of the various social features that are commonly implemented, which will allow them to apply these features to enhance their own apps. Future research may include comparing the synergistic effects of various combinations of these social features.
电子健康干预措施已被证明是解决各种心理和行为健康问题的用户的宝贵资源。随着这些技术的不断普及，学术研究人员和商业应用程序的创建者都在利用这些数字平台上促进社交联系的功能。然而，文献往往不能充分代表这些关键社交功能的功能，因此缺乏对它们如何实施的理解。
本研究旨在对商业上可用的电子健康应用程序进行系统审查，以建立电子健康应用程序中的社会功能 SoCAP（社交沟通、归属和存在）分类法。我们的目标是研究电子健康应用程序中正在使用哪些类型的社交功能以及它们是如何实现的。
对商业上可用的电子健康应用程序进行了范围广泛的审查，以开发社会功能分类法。首先，从一个非营利组织 One Mind PsyberGuide 中获得了 20 个评分最高的电子健康应用程序的短名单，该组织拥有经过培训的研究人员，他们根据应用程序的（1）可信度、（2）用户体验和（3）透明度对应用程序进行评分。接下来，由两名经过培训的评分员对每个应用程序的移动和网络版本进行双重编码，以得出一份社交功能清单。随后，按类别组织社交功能，并在其他应用程序上进行测试，以确保其完整性。
出现了四个主要类别的社交功能：（1）沟通功能（视频会议、论坛等），（2）社交存在功能（聊天机器人、提醒等），（3）归属和身份功能（头像、个人资料等），以及（4）其他社交整合（社交网络和其他应用程序整合）。我们的审查表明，电子健康应用程序经常使用资源密集型交互（例如，与临床医生进行视频会议和与协调员进行电话通话），这可能对需要高支持的参与者有帮助。此外，在商业上可用的电子健康应用程序中，对自动化功能（例如，头像、个性化多媒体和定制内容）的依赖很强，这些功能增强了社交存在感，而不需要临床医生或工作人员的大量投入。
SoCAP 分类法包括一份全面的社交功能清单和这些功能如何工作的简要说明。该分类系统将为学术和商业电子健康应用程序的创建者提供对常见实施的各种社交功能的理解，这将使他们能够应用这些功能来增强自己的应用程序。未来的研究可能包括比较这些社交功能的各种组合的协同效应。
