中国心理健康护理应用程序的质量与隐私政策合规性：横断面评估研究

Quality and Privacy Policy Compliance of Mental Health Care Apps in China: Cross-Sectional Evaluation Study.

作者信息

Lin Xinying, Wu Xingxing, Zhu Ziping, Chen Danting, Li Hong, Lin Rong

机构信息

The School of Nursing, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.

出版信息

J Med Internet Res. 2025 Jul 3;27:e66762. doi: 10.2196/66762.

DOI:10.2196/66762

PMID:40607739

原文链接:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12271965/

Abstract

BACKGROUND

The global prevalence of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety is escalating, yet access to high-quality care remains severely limited. Although mental health care apps can enhance outcomes, their handling of highly sensitive personal data poses significant privacy risks.

OBJECTIVE

This study systematically investigated Chinese mental health care apps, assessing their quality and privacy policy compliance through an integrated framework of the Information Security Technology-Personal Information Security Specification (GB/t 35273-2020) and the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS).

METHODS

A comprehensive search on the Chinese iOS and Android platforms identified apps for evaluation by 2 independent reviewers. Each app was assessed for general characteristics, professional context, functionality, quality, and privacy policy compliance using a previously published privacy policy compliance scale and the MARS.

RESULTS

A comprehensive analysis of the 115 identified apps revealed that all provided privacy policy links on their marketplace interfaces. Of these 115 apps, 104 (90.4%) displayed policy reminders during log-in, but only 85 (73.9%) implemented policy pop-ups or required active user confirmation. The average privacy policy compliance score across the 115 apps was 60.83% (SD 21.75%), with the highest average compliance in general characteristics (80.58%, SD 19.01%) and the lowest in information destruction (49.57%, SD 28.67%). Only 2 (1.7%) of the 115 apps notified third parties to promptly delete personal information. The mean MARS score was 3.41 (SD 0.26), indicating generally good app quality. A significantly positive correlation was found between MARS total scores and overall privacy policy compliance (r=0.354; P<.01), with the strongest associations observed for information destruction (r=0.405; P<.01) and data sharing or transfer (r=0.324; P<.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Although privacy policy compliance in Chinese mental health care apps is at a moderate level, superficial personal information protections, inadequate implementation, and poor transparency in information destruction persist. The findings indicate that enhancing privacy policy compliance can significantly improve app quality and user engagement. Therefore, China's internet content regulators should establish robust enforcement and oversight systems to strengthen the supervision of mental health care apps, elevating their privacy policy compliance to ensure the sustainable development of high-quality apps with enhanced privacy protection standards.

摘要

背景

抑郁症和焦虑症等心理健康问题在全球的患病率正在上升，但获得高质量护理的机会仍然极为有限。尽管心理健康护理应用程序可以改善治疗效果，但其对高度敏感个人数据的处理带来了重大隐私风险。

目的

本研究系统地调查了中国的心理健康护理应用程序，通过信息安全技术——个人信息安全规范（GB/T 35273-2020）和移动应用评分量表（MARS）的综合框架评估其质量和隐私政策合规性。

方法

在中国iOS和安卓平台上进行全面搜索，确定应用程序以供两名独立评审员评估。使用先前发布的隐私政策合规量表和MARS对每个应用程序的一般特征、专业背景、功能、质量和隐私政策合规性进行评估。

结果

对所识别的115个应用程序进行的综合分析显示，所有应用程序在其市场界面上都提供了隐私政策链接。在这115个应用程序中，104个（90.4%）在登录时显示了政策提醒，但只有85个（73.9%）实施了政策弹出窗口或要求用户主动确认。115个应用程序的平均隐私政策合规得分是60.83%（标准差21.75%），一般特征方面的平均合规率最高（80.58%，标准差19.01%），信息销毁方面最低（49.57%，标准差28.67%）。115个应用程序中只有2个（1.7%）通知第三方及时删除个人信息。MARS的平均得分是3.41（标准差0.26），表明应用程序质量总体良好。发现MARS总分与总体隐私政策合规性之间存在显著正相关（r=0.354；P<0.01），信息销毁（r=0.405；P<0.01）和数据共享或传输（r=0.324；P<0.01）方面的关联最强。

结论

尽管中国心理健康护理应用程序的隐私政策合规处于中等水平，但仍存在表面的个人信息保护、实施不足以及信息销毁透明度差的问题。研究结果表明，提高隐私政策合规性可以显著提高应用程序质量和用户参与度。因此，中国互联网内容监管机构应建立强有力的执法和监督系统，加强对心理健康护理应用程序的监管，提高其隐私政策合规性，以确保具有更高隐私保护标准的高质量应用程序的可持续发展。