Healthc Inform Res.  2014 Jan;20(1):23-29. 10.4258/hir.2014.20.1.23.

Analysis of the Information Quality of Korean Obesity-Management Smartphone Applications

• Jeon E
• Park HA
• Min YH
• Kim HY

• KMID: 2166735
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4258/hir.2014.20.1.23

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study analyzed smartphone obesity-management applications developed in Korea and the quality of the information that they provide.
METHODS
Obesity-management smartphone applications were searched using the keywords 'obesity + management,' 'weight + management,' 'weight + loss,' 'weight + exercise,' 'weight + diet,' 'weight + calories,' and 'diet,' with a search application programming interface (provided by Apple) between September 23 and September 27, 2013. These applications were then classified according to their main purpose, type of interventions used, price, type of developer, and user ratings. The information quality of the applications was analyzed using the Silberg scale.
RESULTS
In total, 148 smartphone applications for obesity management were found. The main purpose of most of these applications (70.95%) was to provide information regarding weight control. The most frequently used intervention (34.62%) was to provide information on exercise management. More than half of the applications (58.78%) were free of charge. The mean of users' rating of these applications was 3.68 out of 5. The quality of information provided by these applications was evaluated as 4.55 out of 9: specifically, 1.79 out of 3 for authorship, 0.22 out of 2 for attribution, 1.29 out of 2 for disclosure, and 1.25 out of 2 for currency. Only three of the applications (2.88%) had a score on the Silberg scale greater than or equal to 7 points.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study suggest that the quality of information provided by smartphone applications in the healthcare domain urgently need to be evaluated to prevent users being misinformed by these applications.

Keyword

Obesity; Weight Loss; Telemedicine; Mobile Health Units; Evaluation Study

MeSH Terms

Authorship
Delivery of Health Care
Disclosure
Korea
Mobile Health Units
Obesity
Telemedicine
Weight Loss

Figure

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  Figure 1 Flow diagram for selection of obesity-related smartphone application (apps).

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