Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Dec 3, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Dec 7, 2018 - Jan 10, 2019
Date Accepted: Mar 24, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Evaluating the Quality of Mobile Apps Used by Occupational Therapists Using the uMARS App Quality Rating Tool
ABSTRACT
Background:
The continuous development of mobile applications, or “apps”, has led to many healthcare professionals using them in clinical settings; however, little research is available to guide occupational therapists (OTs) in choosing quality apps for use in their respective clinical settings.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of the most frequently noted mobile apps used by OTs.
Methods:
A previous study surveying OTs’ use of apps in therapy compiled a list of apps frequently noted. Twenty-five of these apps were evaluated individually by two trained researchers using the uMARS, a simple, multidimensional analysis tool that can be easily used to evaluate the quality of apps.
Results:
The top 10 apps had a total quality score of 4.3, or higher, out of 5 based on the mean scores of engagement, functionality, and aesthetics. Apps scored highest in functionality and lowest in engagement. Apps noted most frequently were not always high-quality apps; apps noted least frequently were not always low-quality apps.
Conclusions:
Determining the effectiveness of using apps in clinical settings must be built upon a foundation of the implementation of high-quality apps. Mobile apps should not be incorporated into clinical settings solely based on frequency of use. The uMARS should be considered as a useful tool for OTs, and other professionals, to determine app quality.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.