Health apps: a cross-sectional study exploring patient motivations and usage implications

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Informatics
• Patient Empowerment

Background:

• Limited adoption of health apps despite increasing availability.
• Unclear motivations and impact on patient empowerment and patient-Healthcare Professional (HCP) relationships.
• Need for understanding user experiences to improve health app integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• Explore motivations for health app usage.
• Investigate the impact of health apps on patient empowerment.
• Analyze patient-HCP interactions related to health app use.

Main Methods:

• Online survey of 133 patients from Amsterdam University Medical Center.
• Logistic regression to identify motivations for health app usage.
• Descriptive statistics for patient empowerment and patient-HCP interaction.

Main Results:

• 46% of patients use health apps, primarily for Movement/Sport, Vital Functions, and Sleep.
• Users value access to health data and are more certain of app usefulness.
• Non-users are motivated by health information, data access, and symptom tracking.
• 60% of users discussed app outcomes with HCPs, enhancing empowerment and treatment participation.

Conclusions:

• Health app use correlates with perceived data importance and confidence in usefulness.
• Apps offering health insights, data access, and symptom tracking can drive adoption.
• HCPs should discuss health app relevance to encourage non-user engagement and integration into practice.