Nonaka Sayuri, Fujii Susumu, Yamada Kosuke Chris
Disaster Medical Informatics Lab, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
Research Institute of Sport Medical Science, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Japan.
JMIR Form Res. 2025 Mar 5;9:e56862. doi: 10.2196/56862.
Japan has experienced various natural disasters, including the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. It becomes crucial to focus on strengthening self-help measures through health care apps that are used in normal times to help people during disasters. However, little is known about what health care apps would be useful in times of disaster.
This study aimed to investigate the prevalent functionalities and purposes of using health care apps during normalcy, explore their potential utility, and propose strategies for disaster response through their utilization.
We focus on highly ranked health care apps (within the top 100 in the health care category for iPhones by Apple, Inc for a certain period) and reclassify their purpose of use, such as sleep, relaxation, and exercise, in detail. We also investigate the functions within each health care app (measurement, recording, advice, content provision, and guidance to actual services), based on which we determine their potential utilization during disasters and anticipate potential solutions to address disaster-related challenges. We also consider the ideal framework of health care apps in disaster response, exploring possibilities such as the necessity of new disaster-specific apps or the adaptation of existing health care apps for disaster scenarios.
Among the 70 free apps, the predominant functions included "recording" (n=60 cases, 86%) and "measurement" (n=47 cases, 67%), primarily encompassing the mechanical functions of wearable devices and smartphones. A similar trend was seen in the 77 paid apps, but "content provision" (n=54 cases, 70%) was the most prevalent. Furthermore, the "content provision" function was particularly common in the "purposes of use" categories "sleep" (χ211=29; P<.001), "relaxation" (χ211=14.6; P<.001), and "exercise" (χ211=9.3; P=.002). This suggested the possibility of using the content provision function in existing health care apps to support mental and physical health even during a disaster.
The widespread use of apps during normal times could minimize hesitation in adopting them during disasters. The findings emphasize the potential for augmenting disaster-specific content within existing apps rather than developing new ones. This approach aligns with the likelihood of preinstalled app use during emergencies, indicating a pragmatic strategy for enhancing disaster response content within prevalent apps.
日本经历了各种自然灾害，包括2011年的东日本大地震。通过在正常时期使用的医疗保健应用程序来加强自助措施变得至关重要，这些应用程序可在灾难期间帮助人们。然而，对于哪些医疗保健应用程序在灾难时期有用，人们知之甚少。
本研究旨在调查正常时期使用医疗保健应用程序的普遍功能和目的，探索其潜在效用，并提出通过利用这些应用程序进行灾难应对的策略。
我们关注排名靠前的医疗保健应用程序（在苹果公司特定时期内iPhone医疗保健类别前100名内），并详细重新分类其使用目的，如睡眠、放松和锻炼。我们还研究每个医疗保健应用程序中的功能（测量、记录、建议、内容提供以及对实际服务的指导），据此确定它们在灾难期间的潜在用途，并预测应对与灾难相关挑战的潜在解决方案。我们还考虑医疗保健应用程序在灾难应对中的理想框架，探索诸如新的特定灾难应用程序的必要性或现有医疗保健应用程序针对灾难场景的改编等可能性。
在70个免费应用程序中，主要功能包括“记录”（60例，86%）和“测量”（47例，67%），主要涵盖可穿戴设备和智能手机的机械功能。在77个付费应用程序中也观察到类似趋势，但“内容提供”（54例，70%）最为普遍。此外，“内容提供”功能在“使用目的”类别“睡眠”（χ211 = 29；P <.001）、“放松”（χ211 = 14.6；P <.001）和“锻炼”（χ211 = 9.3；P =.002）中尤为常见。这表明在现有医疗保健应用程序中使用内容提供功能即使在灾难期间也有可能支持身心健康。
正常时期应用程序的广泛使用可以最大限度地减少在灾难期间采用它们时的犹豫。研究结果强调了在现有应用程序中增加特定灾难内容而非开发新应用程序的潜力。这种方法与紧急情况下预装应用程序使用的可能性一致，表明了在流行应用程序中增强灾难应对内容的务实策略。
