JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Smartphone health tracking applications are increasingly becoming an integral part of our everyday lives. One such technology includes menstrual health applications that allow menstruators to assess, manage and learn about their reproductive health.

Objective:

This study aims to explore the characteristics of self-tracking menstrual health applications and design recommendations as reported in the literature.

Methods:

A scoping review in line with the guidelines of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) extension for scoping reviews was conducted. Scopus, Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar were searched to identify relevant studies. The search term selected focused on target intervention (mobile application) and objective (menstrual and fertility tracking). A reviewer independently conducted study selection and data extraction. Data extracted from the included studies were synthesized narratively.

Results:

Out of 902 citations retrieved, 23 unique studies were included in the review. The studies investigated application characteristics and design recommendations of menstruation or fertility applications as reported in the literature. The data documented by users on the menstruation tracking application provide data deemed beneficial in public health research and observing patterns in population health. Design recommendations presented in studies include scientifically sound information for users, the collaboration between stakeholders during design, user inclusive design, customization abilities, discreet features, and integration to individual’s healthcare and other health tracking application.

Conclusions:

Menstrual health is an important aspect of an individual’s well-being. It is vital for application developers to consider designing such technologies that are a product of collaborative efforts between stakeholders, provide accurate information as well as allow users to customize their tracking experience. Research focusing on how to best provide clinicians with support to understand, adapt, and implement this technology in their practice and support menstrual health is also necessary. Furthermore, we also observe a lack of diversity in the current literature – therefore, there lies an obvious gap in research to explore users from diverse cultures, their perspectives, and requirements for managing their menstrual health over a smartphone application. There is still a lot of work to be done in supporting women's health and aspects around it.