A qualitative study of user perceptions of mobile health apps

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Shupei Yuan¹  Wei Peng²  Shaheen Kanthawala²  Syed Ali Hussain³ 

[1] Department of Advertising & Public Relations, Michigan State University, 404 Wilson Road, Room 309, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA;Department of Media and Information, Michigan State University, 404 Wilson Road, Room 409, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA;School of Journalism, Michigan State University, 404 Wilson Road, Room 359, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA;

关键词: Mobile apps;    Smartphone;    Technology acceptance;    Qualitative study;    Self-regulation;    Health promotion;    mHealth;    Adoption;    User perception;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-016-3808-0

 received in 2016-04-30, accepted in 2016-10-28,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMobile apps for health exist in large numbers today, but oftentimes, consumers do not continue to use them after a brief period of initial usage, are averse toward using them at all, or are unaware that such apps even exist. The purpose of our study was to examine and qualitatively determine the design and content elements of health apps that facilitate or impede usage from the users’ perceptive.MethodsIn 2014, six focus groups and five individual interviews were conducted in the Midwest region of the U.S. with a mixture of 44 smartphone owners of various social economic status. The participants were asked about their general and health specific mobile app usage. They were then shown specific features of exemplar health apps and prompted to discuss their perceptions. The focus groups and interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using the software NVivo.ResultsInductive thematic analysis was adopted to analyze the data and nine themes were identified: 1) barriers to adoption of health apps, 2) barriers to continued use of health apps, 3) motivators, 4) information and personalized guidance, 5) tracking for awareness and progress, 6) credibility, 7) goal setting, 8) reminders, and 9) sharing personal information. The themes were mapped to theories for interpretation of the results.ConclusionsThis qualitative research with a diverse pool of participants extended previous research on challenges and opportunities of health apps. The findings provide researchers, app designers, and health care providers insights on how to develop and evaluate health apps from the users’ perspective.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016