Bridging the Gap of Communicating Health Information to Users: Ethically-Informed Design of App Store Description of Health Apps

Abstract: Mental health has become a daunting global health challenge in both everyday situations and times of crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic has contributed to an increase in downloads and the use of these apps. Many health apps are available free of charge. As apps are used by people seeking ways to manage or augment the management of their own health conditions, app descriptions should provide clear and thorough information, ensuring that users are not compelled to seek additional sources or infer missing content. Prior research has addressed the lack of necessary information provided to users when choosing health apps in app stores, including evidence-based content on efficacy or feasibility studies, claims, target audience, privacy concerns, and hidden costs.Based on a comprehensive literature review of prior work on health apps and treatment delivery models, in the first phase of our research objectives, we introduced an app store description design to effectively bridge the communication gap in conveying health information to users. This design maximizes the impact and benefits of specific information cues (e.g., evidence-based content) to educate and support people’s decisions when selecting health apps, which can be utilized across various health app genres. Improvements in app description design could have a large impact on its use and benefits. In the second phase, we plan to conduct a usability study using a mixed-method design to evaluate the design in terms of its effectiveness, user satisfaction, clarity of information, learnability, feedback, and perceived usefulness.Our proposed design has both simple and detailed versions when needed to mitigate users’ burden, hesitancy, skepticism, and to manage their expectations when assessing what the app has to offer upfront in terms of the following aspects: free versus paid features, evidence of benefits and effectiveness, detailed cost of the in-app purchase list, subscriptions and plans, privacy information, clinical and user reviews, and pros and cons of the app. This information structure provides potential users with important details and could reduce the time and effort needed to evaluate the information provided by the app.The knowledge gained from this research could lay the foundation, contribute and shape app store description design moving forward and will help policymakers, health organizations, researchers, healthcare providers, and app developers find suitable solutions to assist users in choosing health apps.

Keywords: Health Apps, Evidence-Based Content, Claims, Effectiveness, Hidden Costs, Privacy Information, Clinical Reviews, Target Audience

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1006970

Cite this paper:

​