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Evaluation of Commercially Available Infant-feeding Mobile Applications Using App Quality Evaluation Tool
Alexandra L MacMillan Uribe1, Kristen N DiFilippo2, Kelsey Jarnell3
1Healthy Living Program, Texas A&M AgriLife Institute for Advancing Health through Agriculture, College Station, TX.
Objective:
Assess the quality of free, commercially available infant-feeding mobile applications (apps) and their appropriateness for audiences with low income and of racial and ethnic diversity using the App Quality Evaluation tool.
Methods:
Researchers selected apps using an iterative process (n = 6). Health professionals (n = 10) who work with mothers with infants and low income who completed the App Quality Evaluation tool for each app, consisting of 7 domains of app quality. Average domain scores were calculated for each app (> 8 indicates high quality).
Results:
Evaluators highly rated app function and purpose for WebMD Baby (8.0 ± 1.8 and 8.2 ± 0.9, respectively) and Baby Center (8.0 ± 2.1 and 8.0 ± 2.6, respectively). For other apps, no domains were highly rated. No apps were rated highly for appropriateness (range 5.7-7.7) nor provided high-quality infant-feeding information for mothers with low income. Few apps were rated highly appropriate for mothers who are Black or Hispanic.
Conclusions And Implications:
Commercially available infant-feeding apps are of limited quality, indicating the need to develop high-quality apps for audiences with low income and Black and Hispanic identities.
