Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Dermatology
Date Submitted: Nov 25, 2021
Date Accepted: Aug 10, 2022
Date Submitted to PubMed: Oct 30, 2024
A gender lens on user quality ratings from young teenagers assessing the Sun Safe app: comparing responses from co-researchers and participants of pilot intervention studies
ABSTRACT
Background:
Sunburn in adolescence increases risk for melanoma. Health messaging is difficult, with a need to balance sun protection with some ‘safe’ exposure for vitamin D. We have developed a new iOS smartphone app – Sun Safe – through a co-design process which aims to support healthy and balanced decision-making by young teenagers (12-13 year-olds).
Objective:
To determine if there were gender differences in user quality ratings of the Sun Safe app from young teenagers, comparing responses from co-researchers involved in its development with participants of pilot intervention studies.
Methods:
Ratings were obtained from ‘co-researchers’ (n=15, 9 females, 6 males) during the ‘test’ phase of development of Sun Safe, and ‘pilot study participants’ (n=24, 17 females, 7 males) of pilot intervention studies. Co-researchers downloaded and used the app during a 2 h workshop, while pilot study participants were given access for 6 weeks before providing feedback using the user version of the mobile application rating scale (uMARS, online or on paper).
Results:
Most co-researchers used the app for 5-10 min, while pilot study participants used the app weekly before completing the uMARS survey. Overall, few differences in app quality ratings were observed by gender, except that male pilot study participants provided statistically significantly higher ‘overall star’ ratings (4.7 (0.7)) than females (3.2 (0.9), P=.001, Mann-Whitney), with similar findings observed for encouraging ‘help seeking’ behaviours (male (3.9 (1.1), female (2.7 (1.0), P=.03). Female pilot study participants rated Sun Safe lower for ‘engagement’ (2.8 (0.6)) than female co-researchers (3.7 (0.4); 0.9 difference in predicted means (95%CI, 0.2, 1.6), P=.009, 2-way ANOVA).
Conclusions:
Sun Safe was generally rated well by young teenagers. However, those not involved in its development rated it lower for ‘engagement’. While fewer males were recruited to develop and test the app, they rated it higher for some outcomes than females. Further development of ‘engagement’ aspects of Sun Safe may be required to optimize its use by young teenagers in Australia.
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