Smartphones and Health Promotion: A Review of the Evidence

Encyclopedia of Mobile Phone Behavior

In an era when there are nearly 332 million mobile phone users in the United States, and 5.6 billion worldwide, it is important to explore the clinical, research, and health implications of smartphone technology for personal and public health (Salehan & Negahban, 2011; Abroms, Padmanabhan, Thaweethai, & Phillips, 2011). Existing research suggest that mobile phones can be an effective platform to influence users' health decisions, and be utilized as an effective tool in promoting behavioral change (e.g., smoking cessation, weight loss, STD prevention, exercise and physical activity).The purpose of this article is to review literature that examined the use of mobile phones and smartphone health applications as mobile platforms for delivery of personalized care at the patients' convenience in support for chronic illness management and health promotion.

Journal of Media Critiques, 2014

With the effect of recent rapid developments in communication technologies, every day, and various new experiences are introduced into daily life practices. The spread of smart devices and the increase in their accessibility causes a reorganization of the information concerning the daily life via smart phones, tablets, all peripheral devices which can communicate with them, and applications which are installed in these devices. There is also a rapid development in the field of health which has an important position among the fastest growing fields in digital life; and the information and possibilities which are provided by mobile health applications to people who are not health care professionals are also developing rapidly. In this study, health applications which are developed for IOS operating system and presented to the consumers through Apple App-Store on Apple I-Phone and I-Pad mobile devices are examined in order to reveal what mobile health applications as new practices of daily life offer in terms of health and how they direct the individuals towards healthy behavior; and some of the most frequently used free applications are included as sample applications. Mobile health applications offer many conveniences to the patients or the caretakers of patients such as reminding about medicines or treatments, and administering and monitoring simple treatments.

Science & Philosophy, 2017

Knowledge is more and more a strategic resource for health organizations while information & communication technology earns an important role for sharing knowledge and information among people in and out organizations. these conditions satisfy specific demands related to the new emerging information needs, asking for a change in relationships and effective communication. so, the medicine apps represent an emerging and rapidly developing framework for health system, able to contribute to its quality and efficiency. The same u.s. supervisory authority activated in the last years an appropriate study in order to control the medical applications downloaded directly through mobile devices and able to influence health performance. this work - with a mixed approach - presents the results of the exploratory and descriptive studies in order to make clear the general dynamics and functionality of the medicine category apps.

The use of smart phones is widely prevalent and becoming increasingly affordable. The level of smart phone use by medical students is increasing day by day. However, studies looking at the usage of health related smart phone applications among medical students are few. Thus, our study aimed to know the usage pattern of health related smart phone applications among the medical students. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out from May-July 2018 among undergraduate students in JJM Medical college, Davangere. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used for collecting the data. The study participants were asked about use of health related smart phone applications, their satisfaction and perceived benefits after using the health related smart phone applications. Self-reported health status of the students was also collected. Descriptive statistics was used for the analysis. Results: A Total of 62 participants participated in the study and were using health related apps. Majority of the participants who were using health apps were females. The most widely used application was nutrition apps which accounted to 56.4%. About 72.4% of the study participants were spending 30minutes to 01 hour using the health related apps. 19.35% of the study participants perceived the apps to be useful and minority of them were satisfied by the information provided by the health related applications. Conclusion: This study highlights that 56% of the study participants were females and 44% were males who were using health related smart phone applications. Nutrition apps were widely used by the medical students. Minority of the students were satisfied by the information provided by the health related smart phone applications. Further research is needed in the area of m-health apps to meet the needs of the people.

Jacobs journal of food and nutrition

Rapid developments in technology have encouraged the use of smartphones in health promotion research and practice. Although many applications (apps) relating to diet and nutrition are available from major smartphone platforms, relatively few have been tested in research studies in order to determine their effectiveness in promoting health. In this article, we summarize data on the use of smartphone applications for promoting healthy diet and nutrition based upon bibliographic searches in PubMed and CINAHL with relevant search terms pertaining to diet, nutrition, and weight loss through August 2015. A total of 193 articles were identified in the bibliographic searches. By screening abstracts or full-text articles, a total of three relevant qualitative studies and 9 randomized controlled trials were identified. In qualitative studies, participants preferred applications that were quick and easy to administer, and those that increase awareness of food intake and weight management. In r...

The Open Bioinformatics Journal

Background: Mobile applications can be used for the monitoring of lifestyles and physical activity. It can be installed in commodity mobile devices, which are currently used by different types of people in their daily activities worlwide . Objective: This paper reviews and categorizes the mobile applications related to diet, nutrition, health, physical activity and education, showing the analysis of 73 mobile applications available on Google Play Store with the extraction of the different features. Methods: The mobile applications were analyzed in relation to each proposed category and their features, starting with the definition of the search keywords used in the Google Play Store. Each mobile application was installed on a smartphone, and validated whether it was researched in scientific studies. Finally, all mobile applications and features were categorized. Results: These mobile applications were clustered into four groups, including diet and nutrition, health, physical activity...

The advancement of information technology (IT) has brought dramatic changes in the field of health care system. This system collects and provides information by electronic source which is called eHealth. As the preference of consumers has shifted from personal computer to mobile phone, same the practices of the medicine and health provider shifted to mobile phone called mobile health (mHealth). The objective of mHealth is to empower individual to monitor and control daily activities related to health care, exercise, and nutrition everywhere and anytime. It willingly collect data from patients, store it in database, and provide best solutions for patients. However, there are some issues which patients face while using mHealth applications. What are the mHealth application challenges from patients’ perspectives? The objective is to provide a systematic review on mHealth applications challenges which create barriers for patients. The findings of this study will help mHealth application developers, researchers, patients, and health providers to promote mHealth applications in smartphone.

Health promotion applications that are able to change health behaviors can be used as nursing interventions. The purpose of the study was to see, how the media through Smartphone applications can solve problems associated with overweight / obesity and physical activity in children. The Strategic Found method, that was done comprehensively was search of research articles in database of research journal, internet. The method used is literature review is based on the search, found 15 journals related to the application in the changes in health behavior (obesity / obesity and physical activity). Get found four main parts of this application that has good benefits in the purpose of weight loss and has fairly good quality applications. It is necessary to evaluate existing applications, paid and free applications have the same benefits, the interest of the community towards the application is high enough and Smartphone application development for health behavior change continues and needs to be improved. Available applications that are associated with changes in health behaviors in overweight or obesity and physical activity are excellent media use because, they have the benefit to achieve weight loss and increased physical activity.

2021

The aims of this study are to explore the types and patterns of use of health mobile apps among pharmacy clients in Selangor, Malaysia, and to explore the users' experiences and views regarding the benefits of and issues with the use of the health apps. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 278 pharmacy clients who were using health apps on their smartphones. A survey was developed, piloted, and rolled out, comprised of socio-demographic characteristics, information regarding the common types and the pattern of health app use, the benefits of health apps, and issues that users faced while using these apps. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS version 21. Results: The mean (±SD) age of health app users was 29.8 (±11.74) years old, and over half of them (51.8%) were male, while less than half were female (48.2%). There were 48 different types of mobile health apps used by the participants in this study. The two most common were multipurpose general health apps (53.6%) and fitness apps (38.1%). In terms of pattern of use, 33.5% of the participants reported using their health apps daily, 36.7% at least once weekly, and 25.2% monthly. The main benefits reported by the users were tracking of health status (47%), motivation (41%), and knowledge about health and fitness (9%). The main issues reported by the participants included inaccuracy of the app (24%), inconvenience (20.7%), and not being user-friendly (18.5%). Conclusion: The study showed that the participants used many different types of mobile health apps for several purposes, including general health, wellness, fitness, and selfmanagement of diseases. These apps helped the participants to track their health-related activities and motivated them to maintain their wellness and fitness. Further areas of improvement were identified to ensure evidence-based and effective utilization of apps to achieve required health outcomes.

International Journal of E-Health and Medical Communications, 2018

The widespread use of smartphones makes them a popular platform for healthcare applications. This article reveals the global trends and overarching goals of mHealth initiatives that seek to enhance healthcare quality, increase access to health services, and improve global health communication. Three main themes emerged from this study: a) the impact of mHealth on international public health, b) overcoming mhealth barriers, and c) emerging mHealth technologies. The costs of developing mHealth apps and handling related data security concerns are the key barriers which need to be addressed to successfully implement global mHealth campaigns. Future directions of mHealth research are discussed, including the integration of new technologies, development of innovative healthcare systems, and overall improvement of global healthcare.