IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i19p10323-d647340.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Help in a Heartbeat?”: A Systematic Evaluation of Mobile Health Applications (Apps) for Coronary Heart Disease

Author

Listed:
  • Chiara Mack

    (Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, 79085 Freiburg, Germany)

  • Yannik Terhorst

    (Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, 89040 Ulm, Germany)

  • Mirjam Stephan

    (Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, 79085 Freiburg, Germany)

  • Harald Baumeister

    (Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, 89040 Ulm, Germany)

  • Michael Stach

    (Institute of Databases and Information Systems, Ulm University, 89040 Ulm, Germany)

  • Eva-Maria Messner

    (Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, 89040 Ulm, Germany)

  • Jürgen Bengel

    (Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, 79085 Freiburg, Germany)

  • Lasse B. Sander

    (Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, 79085 Freiburg, Germany)

Abstract

For patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) lifestyle changes and disease management are key aspects of treatment that could be facilitated by mobile health applications (MHA). However, the quality and functions of MHA for CHD are largely unknown, since reviews are missing. Therefore, this study assessed the general characteristics, quality, and functions of MHA for CHD. Hereby, the Google Play and Apple App stores were systematically searched using a web crawler. The general characteristics and quality of MHA were rated with the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) by two independent raters. From 3078 identified MHA, 38 met the pre-defined criteria and were included in the assessment. Most MHA were affiliated with commercial companies (52.63%) and lacked an evidence-base. An overall average quality of MHA ( M = 3.38, SD = 0.36) was found with deficiencies in information quality and engagement. The most common functions were provision of information and CHD risk score calculators. Further functions included reminders (e.g., for medication or exercises), feedback, and health management support. Most MHA (81.58%) had one or two functions and MHA with more features had mostly higher MARS ratings. In summary, this review demonstrated that a number of potentially helpful MHA for patients with CHD are commercially available. However, there is a lack of scientific evidence documenting their usability and clinical potential. Since it is difficult for patients and healthcare providers to find suitable and high-quality MHA, databases with professionally reviewed MHA are required.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiara Mack & Yannik Terhorst & Mirjam Stephan & Harald Baumeister & Michael Stach & Eva-Maria Messner & Jürgen Bengel & Lasse B. Sander, 2021. "“Help in a Heartbeat?”: A Systematic Evaluation of Mobile Health Applications (Apps) for Coronary Heart Disease," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:19:p:10323-:d:647340
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10323/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10323/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yannik Terhorst & Paula Philippi & Lasse B Sander & Dana Schultchen & Sarah Paganini & Marco Bardus & Karla Santo & Johannes Knitza & Gustavo C Machado & Stephanie Schoeppe & Natalie Bauereiß & Alexan, 2020. "Validation of the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-14, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Felix Holl & Jennifer Kircher & Walter J. Swoboda & Johannes Schobel, 2021. "Methods Used to Evaluate mHealth Applications for Cardiovascular Disease: A Quasi-Systematic Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-16, November.
    2. Jihye Choi & Chongwook Chung & Hyekyung Woo, 2021. "Diet-Related Mobile Apps to Promote Healthy Eating and Proper Nutrition: A Content Analysis and Quality Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-10, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:19:p:10323-:d:647340. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.