ArticleJMIR mHealth and uHealth2022
The Quality of Health Apps and Their Potential to Promote Behavior Change in Patients With a Chronic Condition or Multimorbidity: Systematic Search in App Store and Google Play.
Article in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Engaging Patients with Heart Failure in Diet and Nutritional Health Behaviors Through mHealth Applications - A Restricted, Systematic Review.Current heart failure reports · 2026Pooled it
- Mobile Apps for Common Noncommunicable Disease Management: Systematic Search in App Stores and Evaluation Using the Mobile App Rating Scale.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Pooled it
- Evaluation of Patient-Facing Mobile Apps to Support Physiotherapy Care: Systematic Review.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Pooled it
- Considerations for Nurses in Recommending mHealth Apps for People Living With Chronic Conditions: A Qualitative Study.Nursing open · 2026Article
- The Impact of a Health Coaching App on the Subjective Well-Being of Individuals With Multimorbidity: Mixed Methods Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Supporting Mental Health with Apps: A Systematic Review of Potential and Quality of Implemented Behavior Change Techniques in Mobile Health Applications.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Review
- Temporal Variation in Psychosocial Factors and Physical Activity Levels Among Patients With Heart Failure.Circulation. Heart failure · 2026Observational
- Home-Based mHealth Platform (Active-Feet) for Children With Idiopathic Toe Walking: Design, Development, and Acceptability Study.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologies · 2025Article
- Digital Readiness Among 3555 Individuals With Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis Initiating a Supervised Education and Exercise Therapy Programme: A Cross-Sectional Study.Musculoskeletal care · 2025Article
- Evaluating the Knowledge Level, Practice, and Behavioral Change Potential of Care Managers in Pressure Injury Prevention Using a Mobile App Prototyping Model in the Home-Care Setting: Single-Arm, Pre-Post Pilot Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Exploring mHealth app utilization for diabetes self-management: survey insights from a northern district in Malaysia.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Complementary App-Based Yoga Home Exercise Therapy for Patients With Axial Spondyloarthritis: Usability Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Spanish versión of The App Behavior Change Scale (ABACUS-Es): Adaptation and validation study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Refinement and Usability Analysis of an eHealth App for Ankylosing Spondylitis as a Complementary Treatment to Physical Therapy: Development and Usability Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- One Health in a Digital World: Technology, Data, Information and Knowledge.Yearbook of medical informatics · 2023Article
- A fuzzy based dietary clinical decision support system for patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs).Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Article
- Virtual Tools to Enable Management of Knee Osteoarthritis.Current treatment options in rheumatology · 2023Review
- Patient perspectives on the use of mobile apps to support heart failure management: A qualitative descriptive study.PloS one · 2023Article
- Validations of Blood Pressure Measuring Devices Using Recognized Protocols.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMobile apps offer an opportunity to improve the lifestyle of patients with chronic conditions or multimorbidity. However, for apps to be recommended in clinical practice, their quality and potential for promoting behavior change must be considered.
objectiveWe aimed to investigate the quality of health apps for patients with a chronic condition or multimorbidity (defined as 2 or more chronic conditions) and their potential for promoting behavior change.
methodsWe followed the Cochrane Handbook guidelines to conduct and report this study. A systematic search of apps available in English or Danish on App Store (Apple Inc) and Google Play (Google LLC) for patients with 1 or more of the following common and disabling conditions was conducted: osteoarthritis, heart conditions (heart failure and ischemic heart disease), hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, depression, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. For the search strategy, keywords related to these conditions were combined. One author screened the titles and content of the identified apps. Subsequently, 3 authors independently downloaded the apps onto a smartphone and assessed the quality of the apps and their potential for promoting behavior change by using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS; number of items: 23; score: range 0-5 [higher is better]) and the App Behavior Change Scale (ABACUS; number of items: 21; score: range 0-21 [higher is better]), respectively. We included the five highest-rated apps and the five most downloaded apps but only assessed free content for their quality and potential for promoting behavior change.
resultsWe screened 453 apps and ultimately included 60. Of the 60 apps, 35 (58%) were available in both App Store and Google Play. The overall average quality score of the apps was 3.48 (SD 0.28) on the MARS, and their overall average score for their potential to promote behavior change was 8.07 (SD 2.30) on the ABACUS. Apps for depression and apps for patients with multimorbidity tended to have higher overall MARS and ABACUS scores, respectively. The most common app features for supporting behavior change were the self-monitoring of physiological parameters (eg, blood pressure monitoring; apps: 38/60, 63%), weight and diet (apps: 25/60, 42%), or physical activity (apps: 22/60, 37%) and stress management (apps: 22/60, 37%). Only 8 out of the 60 apps (13%) were completely free.
conclusionsApps for patients with a chronic condition or multimorbidity appear to be of acceptable quality but have low to moderate potential for promoting behavior change. Our results provide a useful overview for patients and clinicians who would like to use apps for managing chronic conditions and indicate the need to improve health apps in terms of their quality and potential for promoting behavior change.
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Registered trials
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.