Alharthi Sultan A
Department of Software Engineering, College of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Jeddah, Jeddah 21959, Saudi Arabia.
Healthcare (Basel). 2025 Jun 11;13(12):1392. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13121392.
The rapid growth of mobile health (mHealth) applications has revolutionized healthcare delivery worldwide. These digital tools encompass a broad array of functionalities, including telemedicine, appointment scheduling, medication management, and health data tracking, all of which contribute to enhanced healthcare accessibility, increased patient engagement, and improved operational efficiency. However, despite their increasing prominence, the design, deployment, and use of mHealth applications continue to face several challenges, such as usability issues and overall sustained adoption. This study aims to evaluate mHealth applications in Saudi Arabia, focusing on their design characteristics, usability features, and current feature gaps. A total of 21 mHealth applications were selected and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. The apps were selected based on usage popularity in the Saudi market and relevance to national digital health strategies. Data were drawn from publicly available app store information, official app documentation, and expert evaluations. The findings reveal that while mHealth applications excel in areas such as telemedicine, appointment booking, and health education, there are notable gaps in features such as behavior modification, patient monitoring, and health management. This study contributes to the growing body of research on mHealth by offering grounded insights into the functional landscape of digital health tools in Saudi Arabia. It also outlines practical recommendations to enhance usability, feature diversity, and alignment with evolving healthcare needs in Saudi Arabia and beyond.
移动健康（mHealth）应用的迅速发展彻底改变了全球的医疗服务提供方式。这些数字工具具有广泛的功能，包括远程医疗、预约安排、药物管理和健康数据跟踪，所有这些都有助于提高医疗服务的可及性、增强患者参与度并提高运营效率。然而，尽管mHealth应用越来越突出，但其设计、部署和使用仍面临一些挑战，如可用性问题和整体持续采用率。本研究旨在评估沙特阿拉伯的mHealth应用，重点关注其设计特点、可用性特征和当前的功能差距。使用主题分析方法选择并分析了总共21个mHealth应用。这些应用是根据在沙特市场的使用受欢迎程度以及与国家数字健康战略的相关性来选择的。数据来自公开可用的应用商店信息、官方应用文档和专家评估。研究结果表明，虽然mHealth应用在远程医疗、预约挂号和健康教育等领域表现出色，但在行为改变、患者监测和健康管理等功能方面存在明显差距。本研究通过对沙特阿拉伯数字健康工具的功能格局提供有根据的见解，为日益增长的mHealth研究做出了贡献。它还概述了切实可行的建议，以提高可用性、功能多样性，并使其与沙特阿拉伯及其他地区不断变化的医疗需求保持一致。
