Exploring Self-Management-Based Mobile Health User Typologies and Associations Between User Types and Satisfaction...

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Informatics
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• User satisfaction is vital for mobile health (mHealth) app development, especially in fitness and weight management.
• Understanding user types and profiles aids in identifying satisfaction differences.
• Existing research lacks user classification based on self-management and satisfaction analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze user heterogeneity in mHealth apps from a self-management viewpoint.
• To identify distinct user types and construct profiles for fitness and weight management app users.
• To explore satisfaction differences with mHealth app functional design across identified user types.

Main Methods:

• Selected 8 indicators from the Health Belief Model and Behavior Change Wheel for self-management evaluation.
• Categorized mHealth app functions into 5 types: health guidance, education, monitoring, social, and gamification.
• Used cluster analysis on 1025 survey responses to classify users into types and analyzed satisfaction differences using the Kruskal-Wallis test.

Main Results:

• Identified 6 user types based on self-management characteristics (e.g., positively proactive energizers, passive attitude holders).
• Found significant differences in all 8 health management characteristics across the 6 user types (P<.001).
• Observed significant variations in satisfaction with the 5 functional designs (H(4)=445.388, P<.001), with highest satisfaction for health guidance/monitoring and lowest for gamification.

Conclusions:

• mHealth app users demonstrate diverse types with distinct self-management traits and varying satisfaction levels.
• User heterogeneity significantly impacts satisfaction with functional designs in fitness and weight management mHealth apps.
• This study provides clarity on individual-level differences in user satisfaction with mHealth applications.