JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Providing resources that aid in the identification and management of acute childhood illness helps parents feel better equipped to assess their child’s health and significantly changes parental health-seeking behaviours. Some of these resources are limited by accessibility and scalability. Remote locations and staffing limitations create challenges for parents aiming to access health information about their child. Mobile health (mHealth) apps offer a scalable, accessible solution for improving health literacy by enabling access to health information through mobile devices.

Objective:

The objective of our study was to create an inventory of apps available to North American parents and caregivers related to acute childhood illnesses, assess their quality, and identify areas in which future apps can be improved.

Methods:

We conducted an environmental scan to identify and summarize information for parents and digital health researchers. The Android and Apple app marketplaces were used as search platforms. We built a list of search terms and used these platforms to search for apps targeted at parents, related to acute pediatric illnesses in US and Canada. We assessed apps that met the inclusion criteria using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS), a validated tool for assessing the quality of health apps. The MARS examines apps on five domains: engagement, functionality, aesthetics, information quality, and subjective quality. Data were analyzed by MARS domain averages and individual item scores.

Results:

650 unique apps were screened and 53 apps were included. On a scale of 1-5, the apps had an average Engagement score of 2.82/5 (SD = 0.86), Functionality of 3.98/5 (SD = 0.72), Aesthetics of 3.09/5 (SD = 0.87), Information quality of 2.73/5 (SD = 1.32), and Subjective quality of 2.20 (SD = 0.79). App scores ranged from 2.2/5 to 4.5/5 (Mean = 3.2, SD =0.6). The top three MARS-scored apps were Baby and Child First Aid (4.5/5), Ada (4.5/5), and HANDi Paediatric (4.2/5). Taken together, the top three apps covered topics of emergency pediatric first aid, identification of (and appropriate response to) common childhood illnesses, a means of checking symptoms, and a means of responding to emergency situations. There was a lack of Canadian-based app content available to parents in both marketplaces, and this space was filled with content originating in the UK and United States. In addition, published evidence of the included apps’ impact was poor: only 5/53 apps had an evidence base showing the app had been trialled for usability or efficacy.

Conclusions:

There is a need for evidence-based apps of Canadian origin related to acute childhood illnesses. The results of this environmental scan offer a comprehensive picture of the health app landscape by examining trends in apps related to acute childhood illness that are readily available to parents, and identifying gaps in app design that can be addressed.