Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31803490›Full record

ArticleDigital health

Development of the mHealth App Trustworthiness checklist.

Afua van Haasteren, Felix Gille, Marta Fadda, Effy Vayena

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
33citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

33 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  8. Trust in Medical AI: The Case of mHealth Diabetes Apps.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Afua van HaasterenDepartment of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
Felix GilleDepartment of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
Marta FaddaDepartment of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
Effy VayenaDepartment of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMobile health applications (mHealth apps) currently lack a consensus on substantial quality and safety standards. As such, the number of individuals engaging with untrustworthy mHealth apps continues to grow at a steady pace.

objectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate end-users' opinions on the features or actions necessary for trustworthy mHealth apps; and to convey this information to app developers via a succinct but informative checklist: the mHealth app trustworthiness checklist.

methodsThe checklist was formulated in three stages: (a) a literature review of studies identified the desirable features of the most prolific mHealth apps (health and fitness apps); (b) four focus group sessions with past or current users of these apps (

resultsFive major themes emerged from the focus group discussions: informational content, organizational attributes, societal influence, technology-related features, and user control factors. The mHealth app trustworthiness checklist was developed to incorporate these five themes and subsequently modified following expert consultation. In addition to the trustworthiness themes, we identified features that lie between trust and mistrust (limited digital literacy and indifference) as well as 10 features and actions that cause end-users to mistrust mHealth apps.

conclusionThis study contributes to the evidence base on the attributes of trustworthy mHealth apps. The mHealth app trustworthiness checklist is a useful tool in advancing continued efforts to ensure that health technologies are trustworthy.

Indexed as

application developerschecklistfocus groupqualitative studytrustTrustworthiness

Identifiers

PMID31803490
PMCPMC6876327

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.