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Systematic mapping of digital health apps - A methodological proposal based on the World Health Organization
Claudia Pernencar1, Paulo Aguilar2, Inga Saboia3
1ICNOVA/NOVA FCSH, Lisbon, Portugal.
Insights
This study evaluated Brazilian digital health apps for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) communication. Findings show that digital health interventions need local adaptation for effective use.
Area of Science:
- Health Informatics
- Digital Health
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Brazil emerged as a major epicenter for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
- A research group in Ceará, Brazil, was tasked with creating a communication channel for healthcare professionals and COVID-19 patient families.
- This article details a portion of that project, focusing on app evaluation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess existing Brazilian digital health applications related to COVID-19.
- To understand how these apps meet user needs and support the COVID-19 context.
- To provide insights for future digital health product development in healthcare.
Main Methods:
- User-centered design principles focusing on user experience.
- Benchmarking analysis of Brazilian COVID-19 related applications.
- Systematic research process involving identification, classification, screening, and analysis by a multidisciplinary team.
- Evaluation based on World Health Organization (WHO) digital health guidelines and the System Usability Scale (SUS).
Main Results:
- A comprehensive overview of available apps and their features within the COVID-19 context was compiled.
- Analysis revealed how industry applications addressed user needs.
- Features were categorized according to WHO digital health interventions, and user experiences were analyzed using the SUS.
Conclusions:
- Digital health interventions require adaptation to local contexts, as WHO guidelines are broad.
- The System Usability Scale (SUS) is an effective tool for comparing the usability of different digital health solutions.
- The study offers a holistic view for developing future health products applicable across various health issues.
Abstract:
Coronavirus disease 2019 was identified as a pandemic and Brazil is one of the major epicentres. One of the Brazilian states affected is Ceará, where this research group works. This group was challenged by a Hospital stakeholder to develop a communication channel with the health professionals and the coronavirus disease 2019 patient's family. This article presents a part of this whole project. The main methodological approach was the user-centred design based on user experience elements. Benchmarking was applied to understand the state-of-art of Brazilian apps that were related to coronavirus disease 2019. The research process was based on a systematic approach that was carried out by a multidisciplinary team that worked through four work cycles (identification, classification, screening, analysis). This work was based on two main points: (a) World Health Organization digital health guidelines, specifically digital health interventions (b) System Usability Scale. As a result, apps features were gathered according to the digital health interventions and their experiences were analysed on System Usability Scale. This work has provided an overview of apps that were available and how they support the coronavirus disease 2019 context. Another valuable contribution is the understanding of how the industry was satisfying the user's needs. These two results can provide a holistic view for future product development that can be used in different contexts of health issues. One of the highlighted conclusions was that digital health interventions should be adapted to the local context because these World Health Organization guidelines were open. Moreover, the System Usability Scale is an effective method to compare different digital health solutions.
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