Exploring Socio-Economic Differences and Developer Medical Involvement of Dementia-Related English Version Mobile Health Applications

IF 3.6 3区医学 Q2 GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY

International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Pub Date : 2025-03-21 DOI:10.1002/gps.70064

Tzu Han Chen, Wei-Fen Ma

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction

The rise of mobile health interventions offers significant potential to improve the well-being of the aging global population, particularly individuals at an increased risk of dementia. To fully leverage this potential, it is crucial to evaluate the mobile health applications across different demographic and socio-economic landscapes. This study investigated the relationship between a country's development status and the quality of dementia-focused mobile health applications, as well as the influence of developers' medical expertise on app quality and perceived impact.

Methods

This cross-sectional observational design study utilized the uMARS tool to evaluate the objective and subjective quality of dementia-related mobile health applications. Objective quality was assessed across engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and information domains, while subjective quality included user recommendations, anticipated usage, and perceived impact. A stratified random sampling method selected 17 apps for evaluation, and inter-reviewer reliability was confirmed (Kendall's W = 0.143, p = 0.045). Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, and Pearson's correlation coefficients, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05.

Results

Among the 51 dementia-related mobile health app analyzed, only one was developed in a low-income country. Additionally, this study found a linear correlation between the perceived impact of a mobile health app for dementia and the medical background of the development team, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of t = 3.708 (p < 0.001). Engagement was highly correlated with subjective quality (Pearson correlation coefficient r = 0.955, p < 0.001), and there was a strong correlation between the information provided by the apps and the perceived impact (Pearson correlation coefficient r = 0.884, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The adoption of mobile health apps must be prioritized to assist individuals with dementia and their caregivers in low income countries. Future apps should focus on improving engagement and involving medical experts in development to increase credibility and utilization across socioeconomic levels and healthcare systems.

查看原文本刊更多论文

探索痴呆症相关英文版移动健康应用程序的社会经济差异和开发者医疗参与。

导言：移动卫生干预措施的兴起为改善全球老龄化人口的福祉提供了巨大的潜力，特别是那些痴呆症风险增加的个体。为了充分利用这一潜力，必须评估不同人口和社会经济背景下的移动卫生应用程序。本研究调查了一个国家的发展状况与以痴呆症为重点的移动健康应用程序质量之间的关系，以及开发者的医疗专业知识对应用程序质量和感知影响的影响。方法：本横断面观察设计研究利用uMARS工具评估与痴呆症相关的移动健康应用程序的客观和主观质量。客观质量是通过参与、功能、美学和信息领域来评估的，而主观质量包括用户推荐、预期使用和感知影响。采用分层随机抽样的方法选取17款应用进行评价，验证了评价者间的信度（Kendall’s W = 0.143, p = 0.045）。数据分析采用描述性统计、独立样本t检验和Pearson相关系数，统计显著性设置为p。结果：在分析的51个与痴呆症相关的移动健康应用程序中，只有一个是在低收入国家开发的。此外，本研究发现移动健康应用程序对痴呆症的感知影响与开发团队的医学背景之间存在线性相关，Pearson相关系数为t = 3.708 (p)。结论：必须优先采用移动健康应用程序来帮助低收入国家的痴呆症患者及其护理人员。未来的应用程序应该专注于提高参与度，让医学专家参与开发，以提高社会经济水平和医疗系统的可信度和利用率。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

6.10

自引率

2.50%

发文量

168

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： The rapidly increasing world population of aged people has led to a growing need to focus attention on the problems of mental disorder in late life. The aim of the Journal is to communicate the results of original research in the causes, treatment and care of all forms of mental disorder which affect the elderly. The Journal is of interest to psychiatrists, psychologists, social scientists, nurses and others engaged in therapeutic professions, together with general neurobiological researchers. The Journal provides an international perspective on the important issue of geriatric psychiatry, and contributions are published from countries throughout the world. Topics covered include epidemiology of mental disorders in old age, clinical aetiological research, post-mortem pathological and neurochemical studies, treatment trials and evaluation of geriatric psychiatry services.