Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Dec 17, 2018
Date Accepted: Aug 19, 2019
The Evaluation of Heart Failure Apps to Promote Self-Care - Are They Meeting Our Needs? – Systematic Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Heart failure (HF) is chronic disease that affects over 1% of Canadians and is associated with a significant economic burden (2.8 billion/year). Many mobile health (mHealth) applications have been developed to help support patients self-care in the home setting, but the quality of the apps available, according to the older adults needs or capabilities, has yet to be established.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to determine the number of HF apps available and evaluate whether they met the criteria for optimal HF self-care
Methods:
We conducted a systematic search all the apps available exclusively for HF self-care across the Google Play and Apple iTunes app stores. We then evaluated the apps according to a list of 25 major functions pivotal to promote HF self-care
Results:
Seventy-four apps for HF self-care were identified, but only 21 apps were listed as being both HF and self-care specific. None of the apps had all of the 25 of the listed features required for an adequate HF self-care app and only 41% (31/74) had the key weight management feature present. HF Storylines received the highest functionality score (18/25).
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that the current apps available are not adequate for HF patients to use. This highlights the need for mHealth apps to refine their development process as user needs and capabilities should be identified during the design stage to ensure the usability of an intervention.
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