Previously submitted to: JMIR mHealth and uHealth (no longer under consideration since Dec 23, 2021)
Date Submitted: May 22, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: May 22, 2021 - Jul 17, 2021
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A Content Analysis of Smartphone Applications for Rehabilitation in The Digital Health Marketplace : A Cross-sectional Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
In the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation, experts have mentioned the role and importance of mHealth systems. Through the recent coronavirus disease nineteen (COVID-19) pandemic, the use of mHealth systems has become more emphasized by the term “telerehabilitation.” Thus, mHealth applications relevant to rehabilitation are continuously being developed and proven effective to rehabilitation through researches. However, there is a discrepancy between the applications studied in the articles and those commercially available in the marketplace.
Objective:
The objective of our study was to check the status of rehabilitation-related applications with mobile health (mHealth) systems in the digital health marketplace.
Methods:
A total of 444 applications for both Android and iOS were searched using the keyword “rehabilitation” on November 1st, 2020. After applying the exclusion criteria, 172 applications were analyzed. The applications were categorized into two groups: mHealth and others. The mHealth applications had the ability to facilitate communication between a patient and a clinician using a mobile phone or tablet. User interaction metrics (number of downloads, number of reviews, quality rating, date of last update, usage fees) and contents of the application (primary theme, treatment focus, how to provide information, target) were then extracted from the store description and screenshots. If additional information was needed, the applications were downloaded and analyzed. The Mann–Whitney and chi-square tests were used to compare continuous variables and the differences in percentages, respectively.
Results:
Considering functionality, 39 (22.7%) of 172 applications were classified in the mHealth and 133 (77.3%) in the other group. Considering the user interaction metrics, neither group had significantly more reviews, higher ratings, or more free applications. As for the application contents, over half of the mHealth applications were related to musculoskeletal rehabilitation and provided mainly physical therapy. Relatively many applications from the mHealth group used visual information. Functional features of this group showed that most applications enabled two-way communication through messages and progress checking. A small number of applications provided the pain survey function, appointment of next visit treatment, nutritional advice, and connection to other devices.
Conclusions:
Rehabilitation-related applications with mHealth systems are limited in specific areas. Thus, it is necessary to develop and commercialize applications to provide various treatments for various diseases with improved interactive features.
Citation
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