A qualitative study of user perceptions of mobile health apps

TLDR

Health‑related mobile apps are abundant, yet many users abandon them quickly, are reluctant to use them, or are unaware of their existence, and this study builds on prior work to further explore the challenges and opportunities of such apps. The study aimed to qualitatively identify design and content features that either encourage or hinder user engagement with health apps. Researchers conducted six focus groups and five individual interviews with 44 smartphone owners, recorded and transcribed the sessions, coded them in NVivo, and performed inductive thematic analysis to uncover nine key themes. The analysis revealed nine themes—barriers to adoption and continued use, motivators, personalized information, tracking, credibility, goal setting, reminders, and data sharing—that were mapped to theoretical frameworks, offering actionable insights for app developers and healthcare providers.

Abstract

Mobile 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.In 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.Inductive 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.This 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.