TY - JOUR
T1 - Apps seeking theories
T2 - Results of a study on the use of health behavior change theories in cancer survivorship mobile apps
AU - Dahlke, Deborah Vollmer
AU - Fair, Kayla
AU - Alicia Hong, Y.
AU - Beaudoin, Christopher E.
AU - Pulczinski, Jairus
AU - Ory, Marcia G.
N1 - Funding Information:
The Open Access Publishing Fees for This Article Have Been Covered by the Texas A&M University Online Access to Knowledge (oak) fund, supported by the University Libraries and the Office of the Vice President for Research.
Publisher Copyright:
© Deborah Vollmer Dahlke, Kayla Fair, Y. Alicia Hong, Christopher E. Beaudoin, Jairus Pulczinski, Marcia G. Ory. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 27.03.2015. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR mhealth and uhealth, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mhealth.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
PY - 2015/3
Y1 - 2015/3
N2 - Background: Thousands of mobile health apps are now available for use on mobile phones for a variety of uses and conditions, including cancer survivorship. Many of these apps appear to deliver health behavior interventions but may fail to consider design considerations based in human computer interface and health behavior change theories. Objective: This study is designed to assess the presence of and manner in which health behavior change and health communication theories are applied in mobile phone cancer survivorship apps. Methods: The research team selected a set of criteria-based health apps for mobile phones and assessed each app using qualitative coding methods to assess the application of health behavior change and communication theories. Each app was assessed using a coding derived from the taxonomy of 26 health behavior change techniques by Abraham and Michie with a few important changes based on the characteristics of mHealth apps that are specific to information processing and human computer interaction such as control theory and feedback systems. Results: A total of 68 mobile phone apps and games built on the iOS and Android platforms were coded, with 65 being unique. Using a Cohen's kappa analysis statistic, the inter-rater reliability for the iOS apps was 86.1 (P<.001) and for the Android apps, 77.4 (P<.001). For the most part, the scores for inclusion of theory-based health behavior change characteristics in the iOS platform cancer survivorship apps were consistently higher than those of the Android platform apps. For personalization and tailoring, 67% of the iOS apps (24/36) had these elements as compared to 38% of the Android apps (12/32). In the area of prompting for intention formation, 67% of the iOS apps (34/36) indicated these elements as compared to 16% (5/32) of the Android apps. Conclusions: Mobile apps are rapidly emerging as a way to deliver health behavior change interventions that can be tailored or personalized for individuals. As these apps and games continue to evolve and include interactive and adaptive sensors and other forms of dynamic feedback, their content and interventional elements need to be grounded in human computer interface design and health behavior and communication theory and practice.
AB - Background: Thousands of mobile health apps are now available for use on mobile phones for a variety of uses and conditions, including cancer survivorship. Many of these apps appear to deliver health behavior interventions but may fail to consider design considerations based in human computer interface and health behavior change theories. Objective: This study is designed to assess the presence of and manner in which health behavior change and health communication theories are applied in mobile phone cancer survivorship apps. Methods: The research team selected a set of criteria-based health apps for mobile phones and assessed each app using qualitative coding methods to assess the application of health behavior change and communication theories. Each app was assessed using a coding derived from the taxonomy of 26 health behavior change techniques by Abraham and Michie with a few important changes based on the characteristics of mHealth apps that are specific to information processing and human computer interaction such as control theory and feedback systems. Results: A total of 68 mobile phone apps and games built on the iOS and Android platforms were coded, with 65 being unique. Using a Cohen's kappa analysis statistic, the inter-rater reliability for the iOS apps was 86.1 (P<.001) and for the Android apps, 77.4 (P<.001). For the most part, the scores for inclusion of theory-based health behavior change characteristics in the iOS platform cancer survivorship apps were consistently higher than those of the Android platform apps. For personalization and tailoring, 67% of the iOS apps (24/36) had these elements as compared to 38% of the Android apps (12/32). In the area of prompting for intention formation, 67% of the iOS apps (34/36) indicated these elements as compared to 16% (5/32) of the Android apps. Conclusions: Mobile apps are rapidly emerging as a way to deliver health behavior change interventions that can be tailored or personalized for individuals. As these apps and games continue to evolve and include interactive and adaptive sensors and other forms of dynamic feedback, their content and interventional elements need to be grounded in human computer interface design and health behavior and communication theory and practice.
KW - EHealth
KW - Health behavior
KW - Health promotion
KW - Mobile apps
KW - Mobile health
KW - Survivorship
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U2 - 10.2196/mhealth.3861
DO - 10.2196/mhealth.3861
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84994854318
VL - 3
JO - JMIR mHealth and uHealth
JF - JMIR mHealth and uHealth
SN - 2291-5222
IS - 1
M1 - e31
ER -