MobileMen: the development of a mobile application to promote physical activity in African American men

African American men experience higher rates of chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity compared to other race and gender groups. This population also has high levels of inactivity, one of the major risk facts for chronic disease. Due to the promise shown by mobile applications (apps) in providing tailored and easily accessible health interventions, we aimed to build an app designed for African American men to initiate and maintain their physical activity (PA) called MobileMen.

We conducted focus groups (n=24) with African American men to gain insight on the features and design aspects to include in the app prototype. We then used an iterative design process by conducting multiple rounds of beta (n=14) and useability (n=16) testing to create a prototype that was easy to use, visually pleasing, and culturally tailored. A satisfaction and helpfulness questionnaire and the System Usability Scale (SUS) were used as quantitative measures in addition to qualitative data provided by participants. Tasks were given to participants to test for ability to navigate and use the app features.

The average satisfaction and helpfulness ratings from participants were 3.9/5 and 3.7/5 for beta testing and 4.3/5 and 4.1/5 for usability testing, which met the pre-determined criteria of ≥3.5. Only one of the satisfaction questions, which was about cultural tailoring for African American men, was below the pre-determined criteria (2.7). By round two of usability testing, the majority of tasks were able to be completed by all of the participants and the mean SUS score was 90.36 out of 100 which exceeded a priori feasibility criterion of a mean rating of 68.0. The feedback on the finalized features was positive, and participants expressed that they would use the app if it were on the market.

Based on both the qualitative and quantitative data obtained from multiple iterative design rounds, the MobileMen app was well received by the target population and is ready to be tested on a larger scale for effectiveness. The app is easy to use and contains culturally tailored features.