Towards better mHealth apps: understanding current challenges and user expectations

Ben Philip; Mohamed Abdelrazek; Scott Barnett; Alessio Bonti; John Grundy

doi:10.1145/3524613.3527804

Towards better mHealth apps: understanding current challenges and user expectations

Ben Philip, Mohamed Abdelrazek, Scott Barnett, Alessio Bonti, John Grundy

Department of Software Systems & Cybersecurity

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) apps have become ubiquitous and offer several different features to provide a better health outcome for end-users. While the availability of thousands of mHealth apps offers a great many options for consumers, they also introduce several challenges if needing to use more than one app. We designed an anonymous survey based on constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) and the Value Proposition Canvas to collect data on the user experience (UX) around these challenges. We surveyed 70 people over the age of 18 having experience with mHealth apps and found issues such as limited customizability, unwanted and redundant features, and data entry challenges that lead to a degraded UX overall. These challenges are also valid from a developer's point of view where they spend significant efforts in developing these redundant or unneeded features for more than one platform. In this paper, we discuss these user challenges and emerging implications for mHealth app developers.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings - 9th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems, MOBILESoft 2022
Editors	Diego Clerissi
Place of Publication	Piscataway NJ USA
Publisher	IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Pages	33-37
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450393010
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3524613.3527804
Publication status	Published - 2022
Event	International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems 2022 - Pittsburgh, United States of America Duration: 17 May 2022 → 18 May 2022 Conference number: 9th https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3524613 (Proceedings) https://conf.researchr.org/home/mobilesoft-2022 (Website)

Conference

Conference	International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems 2022
Abbreviated title	MOBILESoft 2022
Country/Territory	United States of America
City	Pittsburgh
Period	17/05/22 → 18/05/22
Internet address	https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3524613 (Proceedings) https://conf.researchr.org/home/mobilesoft-2022 (Website)

Keywords

Applications
Micro-mHealth apps
Mobile health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1145/3524613.3527804

Cite this

Philip, B., Abdelrazek, M., Barnett, S., Bonti, A., & Grundy, J. (2022). Towards better mHealth apps: understanding current challenges and user expectations. In D. Clerissi (Ed.), Proceedings - 9th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems, MOBILESoft 2022 (pp. 33-37). IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1145/3524613.3527804

Philip, Ben ; Abdelrazek, Mohamed ; Barnett, Scott et al. / Towards better mHealth apps : understanding current challenges and user expectations. Proceedings - 9th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems, MOBILESoft 2022. editor / Diego Clerissi. Piscataway NJ USA : IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2022. pp. 33-37

@inproceedings{c7fdebde15d94f8bb57ed9723e6950f2,

title = "Towards better mHealth apps: understanding current challenges and user expectations",

abstract = "Mobile health (mHealth) apps have become ubiquitous and offer several different features to provide a better health outcome for end-users. While the availability of thousands of mHealth apps offers a great many options for consumers, they also introduce several challenges if needing to use more than one app. We designed an anonymous survey based on constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) and the Value Proposition Canvas to collect data on the user experience (UX) around these challenges. We surveyed 70 people over the age of 18 having experience with mHealth apps and found issues such as limited customizability, unwanted and redundant features, and data entry challenges that lead to a degraded UX overall. These challenges are also valid from a developer's point of view where they spend significant efforts in developing these redundant or unneeded features for more than one platform. In this paper, we discuss these user challenges and emerging implications for mHealth app developers. ",

keywords = "Applications, Micro-mHealth apps, Mobile health",

author = "Ben Philip and Mohamed Abdelrazek and Scott Barnett and Alessio Bonti and John Grundy",

note = "Funding Information: Philip is supported by Deakin University scholarship and ARC Research Hub IH170100013. Grundy is supported by ARC Laureate Fellowship FL190100035. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 ACM.; International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems 2022, MOBILESoft 2022 ; Conference date: 17-05-2022 Through 18-05-2022",

year = "2022",

doi = "10.1145/3524613.3527804",

language = "English",

pages = "33--37",

editor = "Diego Clerissi",

booktitle = "Proceedings - 9th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems, MOBILESoft 2022",

publisher = "IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers",

address = "United States of America",

url = "https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3524613, https://conf.researchr.org/home/mobilesoft-2022",

}

Philip, B, Abdelrazek, M, Barnett, S, Bonti, A & Grundy, J 2022, Towards better mHealth apps: understanding current challenges and user expectations. in D Clerissi (ed.), Proceedings - 9th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems, MOBILESoft 2022. IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Piscataway NJ USA, pp. 33-37, International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems 2022, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America, 17/05/22. https://doi.org/10.1145/3524613.3527804

Towards better mHealth apps: understanding current challenges and user expectations. / Philip, Ben; Abdelrazek, Mohamed; Barnett, Scott et al.
Proceedings - 9th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems, MOBILESoft 2022. ed. / Diego Clerissi. Piscataway NJ USA: IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2022. p. 33-37.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Towards better mHealth apps

T2 - International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems 2022

AU - Philip, Ben

AU - Abdelrazek, Mohamed

AU - Barnett, Scott

AU - Bonti, Alessio

AU - Grundy, John

N1 - Conference code: 9th

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Mobile health (mHealth) apps have become ubiquitous and offer several different features to provide a better health outcome for end-users. While the availability of thousands of mHealth apps offers a great many options for consumers, they also introduce several challenges if needing to use more than one app. We designed an anonymous survey based on constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) and the Value Proposition Canvas to collect data on the user experience (UX) around these challenges. We surveyed 70 people over the age of 18 having experience with mHealth apps and found issues such as limited customizability, unwanted and redundant features, and data entry challenges that lead to a degraded UX overall. These challenges are also valid from a developer's point of view where they spend significant efforts in developing these redundant or unneeded features for more than one platform. In this paper, we discuss these user challenges and emerging implications for mHealth app developers.

AB - Mobile health (mHealth) apps have become ubiquitous and offer several different features to provide a better health outcome for end-users. While the availability of thousands of mHealth apps offers a great many options for consumers, they also introduce several challenges if needing to use more than one app. We designed an anonymous survey based on constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) and the Value Proposition Canvas to collect data on the user experience (UX) around these challenges. We surveyed 70 people over the age of 18 having experience with mHealth apps and found issues such as limited customizability, unwanted and redundant features, and data entry challenges that lead to a degraded UX overall. These challenges are also valid from a developer's point of view where they spend significant efforts in developing these redundant or unneeded features for more than one platform. In this paper, we discuss these user challenges and emerging implications for mHealth app developers.

KW - Applications

KW - Micro-mHealth apps

KW - Mobile health

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134204827&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1145/3524613.3527804

DO - 10.1145/3524613.3527804

M3 - Conference Paper

AN - SCOPUS:85134204827

SP - 33

EP - 37

BT - Proceedings - 9th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems, MOBILESoft 2022

A2 - Clerissi, Diego

PB - IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

CY - Piscataway NJ USA

Y2 - 17 May 2022 through 18 May 2022

ER -

Philip B, Abdelrazek M, Barnett S, Bonti A, Grundy J. Towards better mHealth apps: understanding current challenges and user expectations. In Clerissi D, editor, Proceedings - 9th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems, MOBILESoft 2022. Piscataway NJ USA: IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 2022. p. 33-37 doi: 10.1145/3524613.3527804

Towards better mHealth apps: understanding current challenges and user expectations

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

HCMDSE: Human-centric Model-driven Software Engineering

ARC Research Hub for Digital Enhanced Living

Cite this

Towards better mHealth apps: understanding current challenges and user expectations

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Projects

HCMDSE: Human-centric Model-driven Software Engineering

ARC Research Hub for Digital Enhanced Living

Cite this