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Validation of the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS)

Author

Listed:
  • Yannik Terhorst
  • Paula Philippi
  • Lasse B Sander
  • Dana Schultchen
  • Sarah Paganini
  • Marco Bardus
  • Karla Santo
  • Johannes Knitza
  • Gustavo C Machado
  • Stephanie Schoeppe
  • Natalie Bauereiß
  • Alexandra Portenhauser
  • Matthias Domhardt
  • Benjamin Walter
  • Martin Krusche
  • Harald Baumeister
  • Eva-Maria Messner

Abstract

Background: Mobile health apps (MHA) have the potential to improve health care. The commercial MHA market is rapidly growing, but the content and quality of available MHA are unknown. Instruments for the assessment of the quality and content of MHA are highly needed. The Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) is one of the most widely used tools to evaluate the quality of MHA. Only few validation studies investigated its metric quality. No study has evaluated the construct validity and concurrent validity. Objective: This study evaluates the construct validity, concurrent validity, reliability, and objectivity, of the MARS. Methods: Data was pooled from 15 international app quality reviews to evaluate the metric properties of the MARS. The MARS measures app quality across four dimensions: engagement, functionality, aesthetics and information quality. Construct validity was evaluated by assessing related competing confirmatory models by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Non-centrality (RMSEA), incremental (CFI, TLI) and residual (SRMR) fit indices were used to evaluate the goodness of fit. As a measure of concurrent validity, the correlations to another quality assessment tool (ENLIGHT) were investigated. Reliability was determined using Omega. Objectivity was assessed by intra-class correlation. Results: In total, MARS ratings from 1,299 MHA covering 15 different health domains were included. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a bifactor model with a general factor and a factor for each dimension (RMSEA = 0.074, TLI = 0.922, CFI = 0.940, SRMR = 0.059). Reliability was good to excellent (Omega 0.79 to 0.93). Objectivity was high (ICC = 0.82). MARS correlated with ENLIGHT (ps

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0241480
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241480
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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. 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.
    3. 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.

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