Abstract：
BACKGROUND: Children are one of the biggest users of emergency departments in the UK, sometimes utilising services when experiencing acute illnesses that can be managed at home. mHealth can be an efficacious way for parents/guardians to manage acute illnesses. It has also become a ubiquitous resource to promote public health interests within a resource constrained health system. However, to be effective, co-design is necessary with concepts such as usefulness, ease of use, trustworthiness and security underpinning the utility of mHealth interventions for acute childhood illness.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to conduct an environmental scan of mHealth apps for parental assessment and management of acute childhood illnesses in 0- to 5-year-olds, review the content and functionality of each identified app against the list of desired attributes identified in previous research and synthesise publicly available reviews from end users to demonstrate the quality of current apps in the marketplace and identify areas for improvement.
METHODS: App characteristics were mapped to an a priori defined list of desirable attributes. End user reviews were mapped to a modified Technology Acceptance Model framework that included overarching themes of: Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEU), Perceived Trustworthiness (PT) and Perceived Security (PS) using reflexive thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Overall, 15 apps were included in the analysis (Table 2). Fourteen of the 15 apps were available on both the iOS and Android platforms. \'Baby Illness, Prevention, Cure\' was only available on the Android store. All apps were free to download and did not restrict access to information or features via in-app purchases. Baby and child first aid (British Red Cross) was the earliest app to be released (2014). This app was updated annually, with the most recent update being 2022. The most recent apps to be released (2018) were \'AskFirst\' (formerly Ask NHS), \'Essex Child Health\' and \'The Lullaby Trust Baby Check\', updated in 2022, 2020 and 2019, respectively. No individual app met all the desirable attributes highlighted by parents in previous research. Both \'Healthier Together\', and \'The Lullaby Trust Baby Check\' included all but one desirable attributes (video), as did the \'\'CATCH (Common Approach to Children\'s Health), which did not utilise a traffic light system. Apps that were locality specific were not rated by users (Berkshire Child Health, Cheshire Child Health, Child Health Guide Newham, Child Health HMR, Oldham Child Illness and Walsall Healthy Child). All other apps were rated from 2/5 to 5/5 stars. When considering localities, the \'CATCH\' app was only supported in Halton, Cheshire, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens and Vale Royal. Further investigation evidenced no correlation between inclusion of the desirable attributes and app rating.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this research has highlighted several aspects of best practise when developing mHealth apps for the management of acute childhood illnesses, for increasing PU, PEU, PT and PS; and also, places importance on co-design.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to conduct an environmental scan of mHealth apps for parental assessment and management of acute childhood illnesses in 0- to 5-year-olds, review the content and functionality of each identified app against the list of desired attributes identified in previous research and synthesise publicly available reviews from end users to demonstrate the quality of current apps in the marketplace and identify areas for improvement.
METHODS: App characteristics were mapped to an a priori defined list of desirable attributes. End user reviews were mapped to a modified Technology Acceptance Model framework that included overarching themes of: Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEU), Perceived Trustworthiness (PT) and Perceived Security (PS) using reflexive thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Overall, 15 apps were included in the analysis (Table 2). Fourteen of the 15 apps were available on both the iOS and Android platforms. \'Baby Illness, Prevention, Cure\' was only available on the Android store. All apps were free to download and did not restrict access to information or features via in-app purchases. Baby and child first aid (British Red Cross) was the earliest app to be released (2014). This app was updated annually, with the most recent update being 2022. The most recent apps to be released (2018) were \'AskFirst\' (formerly Ask NHS), \'Essex Child Health\' and \'The Lullaby Trust Baby Check\', updated in 2022, 2020 and 2019, respectively. No individual app met all the desirable attributes highlighted by parents in previous research. Both \'Healthier Together\', and \'The Lullaby Trust Baby Check\' included all but one desirable attributes (video), as did the \'\'CATCH (Common Approach to Children\'s Health), which did not utilise a traffic light system. Apps that were locality specific were not rated by users (Berkshire Child Health, Cheshire Child Health, Child Health Guide Newham, Child Health HMR, Oldham Child Illness and Walsall Healthy Child). All other apps were rated from 2/5 to 5/5 stars. When considering localities, the \'CATCH\' app was only supported in Halton, Cheshire, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens and Vale Royal. Further investigation evidenced no correlation between inclusion of the desirable attributes and app rating.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this research has highlighted several aspects of best practise when developing mHealth apps for the management of acute childhood illnesses, for increasing PU, PEU, PT and PS; and also, places importance on co-design.
摘要：
背景：儿童是英国急诊部门的最大使用者之一，有时在遇到可以在家管理的急性疾病时使用服务。mHealth可以是父母/监护人管理急性疾病的有效方法。它也已成为在资源有限的卫生系统内促进公共卫生利益的无处不在的资源。然而,要有效，共同设计是必要的概念，如有用性，易用性,可信性和安全性是m健康干预对急性儿童疾病的效用的基础。
目的：这项研究的目的是对mHealth应用程序进行环境扫描，以评估和管理0至5岁儿童的急性儿童疾病。根据先前研究中确定的所需属性列表审查每个已识别应用程序的内容和功能，并综合最终用户的公开可用评论，以证明市场上当前应用程序的质量并确定需要改进的领域。
方法：应用特征被映射到先验定义的期望属性列表。最终用户评论被映射到修改后的技术接受模型框架，该框架包括以下总体主题：感知有用性(PU)，感知易用性(PEU)，使用反身性主题分析的感知可信度(PT)和感知安全性(PS)。
结果：总体而言，分析中包括15个应用程序(表2)。15个应用程序中有14个可在iOS和Android平台上使用。\'婴儿疾病，预防,Cure\'仅在Android商店中可用。所有应用程序都可以免费下载，并且不限制通过应用程序内购买访问信息或功能。婴儿和儿童急救（英国红十字会）是最早发布的应用程序（2014年）。这个程序是每年更新，最新的更新是2022年。最新发布的应用程序（2018年）是“AskFirst”（以前是问NHS），“埃塞克斯儿童健康”和“摇篮曲信托婴儿检查”，分别于2022年、2020年和2019年更新。没有单独的应用程序满足父母在先前研究中强调的所有期望属性。两者都“更健康”，和\'摇篮曲信任婴儿检查\'包括所有但一个理想的属性（视频），就像“儿童健康通用方法”(CATCH)一样，没有使用交通灯系统。特定于地区的应用程序未被用户评级(BerkshireChildHealth，柴郡儿童健康，儿童健康指南纽汉姆，儿童健康HMR,奥尔德姆儿童疾病和沃尔索尔健康儿童)。所有其他应用程序的评级从2/5到5/5星。当考虑到地方时，仅在Halton中支持“CATCH”应用程序，柴郡,诺斯利,利物浦,圣海伦斯和皇家淡水河谷。进一步的调查表明，包含所需属性和应用程序评级之间没有相关性。
结论：总体而言，这项研究强调了在开发用于急性儿童疾病管理的mHealth应用程序时最佳实践的几个方面，为了增加PU，PEU,PT和PS；还有，重视共同设计。
目的：这项研究的目的是对mHealth应用程序进行环境扫描，以评估和管理0至5岁儿童的急性儿童疾病。根据先前研究中确定的所需属性列表审查每个已识别应用程序的内容和功能，并综合最终用户的公开可用评论，以证明市场上当前应用程序的质量并确定需要改进的领域。
方法：应用特征被映射到先验定义的期望属性列表。最终用户评论被映射到修改后的技术接受模型框架，该框架包括以下总体主题：感知有用性(PU)，感知易用性(PEU)，使用反身性主题分析的感知可信度(PT)和感知安全性(PS)。
结果：总体而言，分析中包括15个应用程序(表2)。15个应用程序中有14个可在iOS和Android平台上使用。\'婴儿疾病，预防,Cure\'仅在Android商店中可用。所有应用程序都可以免费下载，并且不限制通过应用程序内购买访问信息或功能。婴儿和儿童急救（英国红十字会）是最早发布的应用程序（2014年）。这个程序是每年更新，最新的更新是2022年。最新发布的应用程序（2018年）是“AskFirst”（以前是问NHS），“埃塞克斯儿童健康”和“摇篮曲信托婴儿检查”，分别于2022年、2020年和2019年更新。没有单独的应用程序满足父母在先前研究中强调的所有期望属性。两者都“更健康”，和\'摇篮曲信任婴儿检查\'包括所有但一个理想的属性（视频），就像“儿童健康通用方法”(CATCH)一样，没有使用交通灯系统。特定于地区的应用程序未被用户评级(BerkshireChildHealth，柴郡儿童健康，儿童健康指南纽汉姆，儿童健康HMR,奥尔德姆儿童疾病和沃尔索尔健康儿童)。所有其他应用程序的评级从2/5到5/5星。当考虑到地方时，仅在Halton中支持“CATCH”应用程序，柴郡,诺斯利,利物浦,圣海伦斯和皇家淡水河谷。进一步的调查表明，包含所需属性和应用程序评级之间没有相关性。
结论：总体而言，这项研究强调了在开发用于急性儿童疾病管理的mHealth应用程序时最佳实践的几个方面，为了增加PU，PEU,PT和PS；还有，重视共同设计。
