Assessing Apps for Health Care Workers Using the ISYScore-Pro Scale: Development and Validation Study.

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Informatics
• Mobile Health (mHealth)

Background:

• Mobile apps are increasingly used to support patient care, but a lack of guidance exists for healthcare professionals selecting these tools.
• Existing knowledge gaps hinder the effective integration of mobile health applications into clinical practice for providers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a validated instrument for assessing mobile applications specifically designed for healthcare providers and health systems.
• To create and validate the ISYScore-Pro scale, evaluating mobile health apps based on trust, utility, and interest metrics for healthcare professionals.

Main Methods:

• A five-step methodology framework was employed, beginning with a literature review to develop an initial evaluation scale.
• Expert panel validation utilized a Delphi method with web-based questionnaires to determine indicator inclusion and weighting, achieving >75% consensus.
• The scale's reliability was assessed through a pilot study, with interrater agreement measured using a weighted Cohen kappa.

Main Results:

• The ISYScore-Pro, a 17-item scale, was developed after two Delphi rounds and pilot testing.
• An initial pool of 280 apps was screened, resulting in 18 apps meeting final criteria for scale validation.
• The ISYScore-Pro demonstrated high interrater reliability (92.2%) and a kappa of 0.840 (95% CI 0.834-0.847).

Conclusions:

• The ISYScore-Pro scale offers a reproducible and objective methodology for evaluating mobile health apps targeted at healthcare professionals.
• Future research should focus on adapting the ISYScore-Pro for different languages and expanding its evaluation criteria to include legal compliance and security.