The evolution of mobile apps for asthma : an updated systematic assessment of content and tools
Background: Interest in mobile apps that support long-term conditions such as asthma is matched by recognition of the importance of the quality and safety of apps intended for patient use. We assessed how changes over a 2-year period affected the clinical suitability of apps providing self-managemen...
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sg-ntu-dr.10356-1072532022-02-16T16:29:52Z The evolution of mobile apps for asthma : an updated systematic assessment of content and tools Huckvale, Kit Morrison, Cecily Ouyang, Jing Ghaghda, Aseem Car, Josip Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) DRNTU::Science::Medicine::Pharmacy::Pharmaceutical technology Background: Interest in mobile apps that support long-term conditions such as asthma is matched by recognition of the importance of the quality and safety of apps intended for patient use. We assessed how changes over a 2-year period affected the clinical suitability of apps providing self-management information and tools for people with asthma by updating a review first performed in 2011.Methods: Systematic content assessment of all apps for iOS and Android examining the comprehensiveness of asthma information, consistency with the evidence base for asthma self-management and adherence to best practice principles for trustworthy content, comparing the quality of apps available in 2011 to those released since. Results: Between 2011 and 2013, numbers of asthma apps more than doubled from 93 to 191, despite withdrawal of 25% (n = 23/93) of existing apps. Newer apps were no more likely than those available in 2011 to include comprehensive information, such as the use of action plans, or offer guidance consistent with evidence; 13% (n = 19/147) of all apps, and 39% (n = 9/23) of those intended to manage acute asthma, recommended self-care procedures unsupported by evidence. Despite increases in the numbers of apps targeting specific skills, such as acute asthma management (n = 12 to 23) and inhaler technique (from n = 2 to 12), the proportion consistent with guidelines (17%, n = 4/23) and inhaler instructions (25%, n = 3/12), respectively, was low, and most apps provided only either basic information about asthma (50%, n = 75/147) or simple diary functions (24%, n = 36/147). Conclusions: In addition to persisting questions about clinical quality and safety, dynamic aspects of app turnover and feature evolution affect the suitability of asthma apps for use in routine care. The findings underline the need for coordinated quality assurance processes that can adapt to changing clinical and information governance-related risks, ensure compliance with the evidence base and reflect local variations in clinical practice. It is unclear if substantial clinical benefits can be realized from a landscape dominated by low quality generic information apps and tools that do not adhere to accepted medical practice. Published version 2015-04-22T07:23:33Z 2019-12-06T22:27:26Z 2015-04-22T07:23:33Z 2019-12-06T22:27:26Z 2015 2015 Journal Article Huckvale, K., Morrison, C., Ouyang, J., Ghaghda, A., & Car, J. (2015). The evolution of mobile apps for asthma : an updated systematic assessment of content and tools. BMC medicine, 13(1). 1741-7015 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/107253 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/25444 10.1186/s12916-015-0303-x 25857569 en BMC medicine © 2015 Huckvale et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. 15 p. application/pdf |
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DRNTU::Science::Medicine::Pharmacy::Pharmaceutical technology Huckvale, Kit Morrison, Cecily Ouyang, Jing Ghaghda, Aseem Car, Josip The evolution of mobile apps for asthma : an updated systematic assessment of content and tools |
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Background: Interest in mobile apps that support long-term conditions such as asthma is matched by recognition of the importance of the quality and safety of apps intended for patient use. We assessed how changes over a 2-year period affected the clinical suitability of apps providing self-management information and tools for people with asthma by updating a review first performed in 2011.Methods: Systematic content assessment of all apps for iOS and Android examining the comprehensiveness of asthma information, consistency with the evidence base for asthma self-management and adherence to best practice principles for trustworthy content, comparing the quality of apps available in 2011 to those released since. Results: Between 2011 and 2013, numbers of asthma apps more than doubled from 93 to 191, despite withdrawal of 25% (n = 23/93) of existing apps. Newer apps were no more likely than those available in 2011 to include comprehensive information, such as the use of action plans, or offer guidance consistent with evidence; 13% (n = 19/147) of all apps, and 39% (n = 9/23) of those intended to manage acute asthma, recommended self-care procedures unsupported by evidence. Despite increases in the numbers of apps targeting specific skills, such as acute asthma management (n = 12 to 23) and inhaler technique (from n = 2 to 12), the proportion consistent with guidelines (17%, n = 4/23) and inhaler instructions (25%, n = 3/12), respectively, was low, and most apps provided only either basic information about asthma (50%, n = 75/147) or simple diary functions (24%, n = 36/147).
Conclusions: In addition to persisting questions about clinical quality and safety, dynamic aspects of app turnover and feature evolution affect the suitability of asthma apps for use in routine care. The findings underline the need for coordinated quality assurance processes that can adapt to changing clinical and information governance-related risks, ensure compliance with the evidence base and reflect local variations in clinical practice. It is unclear if substantial clinical benefits can be realized from a landscape dominated by low quality generic information apps and tools that do not adhere to accepted medical practice. |
author2 |
Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) |
author_facet |
Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) Huckvale, Kit Morrison, Cecily Ouyang, Jing Ghaghda, Aseem Car, Josip |
format |
Article |
author |
Huckvale, Kit Morrison, Cecily Ouyang, Jing Ghaghda, Aseem Car, Josip |
author_sort |
Huckvale, Kit |
title |
The evolution of mobile apps for asthma : an updated systematic assessment of content and tools |
title_short |
The evolution of mobile apps for asthma : an updated systematic assessment of content and tools |
title_full |
The evolution of mobile apps for asthma : an updated systematic assessment of content and tools |
title_fullStr |
The evolution of mobile apps for asthma : an updated systematic assessment of content and tools |
title_full_unstemmed |
The evolution of mobile apps for asthma : an updated systematic assessment of content and tools |
title_sort |
evolution of mobile apps for asthma : an updated systematic assessment of content and tools |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10356/107253 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/25444 |
_version_ |
1725985639294304256 |