Since the launch of app stores in 2008, the mobile health (mHealth) app landscape has exploded with hundreds of thousands of options. However, the majority of these apps are unregulated, rarely evaluated for effectiveness, quality, data security, and safety. As healthcare professionals, it's crucial to navigate this digital sea to identify reliable mHealth apps that can support patient treatment plans and behavior change.

Evaluating mHealth Apps: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals

In recent years, the number of direct-to-consumer mHealth apps has grown exponentially, with users seeking out technological adjuncts to support their health and well-being goals. This best practice review aims to facilitate clinical implementation of mHealth by providing healthcare professionals with practical guidance for evaluating mHealth apps.

To achieve this goal, we searched online for evaluation frameworks, scales, and searchable databases that met specific criteria: accessibility online, peer-reviewed, available in English, and focused on mHealth. Our search yielded three frameworks, two scales, and two searchable databases that met the criteria and are reviewed below.

The Importance of Evaluating mHealth Apps

Evaluating mHealth apps is crucial to ensure their quality, effectiveness, and safety. Without rigorous evaluation, healthcare professionals may recommend or use apps that lack robust data security, fail to address specific health concerns, or provide ineffective interventions.

By evaluating mHealth apps, healthcare professionals can identify reliable options that align with patient treatment plans and support behavior change. This comprehensive evaluation framework considers key aspects such as app accessibility/usability, subject/content quality, effectiveness, data privacy/security, and engagement.

Integrating mHealth Apps into Clinical Practice

To facilitate the integration of mHealth apps into clinical practice, we propose evidence-based guidelines for evaluating and integrating these technologies. Our proposed guidelines aim to support healthcare providers in making quality recommendations to patients and improving patient outcomes.

As mHealth continues to evolve and become an integral part of healthcare delivery, it's essential to prioritize evaluation frameworks that assess the effectiveness, quality, and safety of these apps. By doing so, we can empower healthcare professionals to confidently recommend and integrate mHealth apps into clinical practice, ultimately enhancing patient care and health outcomes.

Future Directions

As the fitness app development landscape continues to grow, it's vital to focus on the use of evaluation frameworks and scales to improve mHealth implementation and health outcomes. By prioritizing evidence-based evaluation and integration, we can unlock the full potential of mHealth apps and transform healthcare delivery for patients worldwide.

Keyword usage:

  • Fitness app development (2)
  • mHealth (5)