Codesign and Feasibility Testing of a Tool to Evaluate Overweight and Obesity Apps

Elisa Puigdomènech, Noemi Robles, Mariona Balfegó, Guillem Cuatrecasas, Alberto Zamora, Francesc Saigí-Rubió, Guillem Paluzié, Montserrat Moharra and Carme Carrion
Additional contact information
Elisa Puigdomènech: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona (ASPB), 08023 Barcelona, Spain
Noemi Robles: Red de Investigación en Cronicidad, Atención Primaria y Promoción de la Salud (RICAPPS), Barcelona, Spain
Mariona Balfegó: Clínica Sagrada Família, Cuatrecasas-Peitx Endocrinologia i Nutricio Societat Limitada (CPEN SL) Servei d’Endocrinologia i Nutrició, 08022 Barcelona, Spain
Guillem Cuatrecasas: Clínica Sagrada Família, Cuatrecasas-Peitx Endocrinologia i Nutricio Societat Limitada (CPEN SL) Servei d’Endocrinologia i Nutrició, 08022 Barcelona, Spain
Alberto Zamora: Corporació de Salut del Maresme i la Selva, Hospital de Blanes, 17300 Blanes, Spain
Francesc Saigí-Rubió: Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), 08018 Barcelona, Spain
Guillem Paluzié: Corporació de Salut del Maresme i la Selva, Hospital de Blanes, 17300 Blanes, Spain
Montserrat Moharra: Agència de Qualitat i Avaluació Sanitàries de Catalunya (AQuAS), 08005 Barcelona, Spain
Carme Carrion: Red de Investigación en Cronicidad, Atención Primaria y Promoción de la Salud (RICAPPS), Barcelona, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: Background: Digital health interventions and mobile technologies can help to reduce the rates of obesity and overweight conditions. Although weight management apps are widely used, they usually lack professional content and evaluation, so the quality of these apps cannot be guaranteed. The EVALAPPS project aims to design and validate a tool to assess the safety and effectiveness of health-related apps whose main goal is to manage and prevent obesity and overweight conditions. Objective: The aim of this paper is two-fold: (a) to co-create and codesign the EVALAPPS assessment tool and (b) to pilot its feasibility among overweight and obese individuals that use weight control apps. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used. A multidisciplinary team ( n = 12) participated in a co-creation workshop to provide proposals and inputs about the look and feel of the content, usability aspects, appearance, sections, and main features of the EVALAPPS tool. The tool was tested for its feasibility among 31 overweight and obese individuals, attending the CP Endocrinologia i Nutrició SL Clinic for the first time. Participants were asked to use a specific weight control app [Yazio (YAZIO GmbH, Erfurt, Germany), My FitnessPal (MyFitnessPal, Austin, TX, USA) or MyPlate (MyPlate, Santa Monica, CA, USA)] for two weeks and then evaluate them by using the EVALAPPS (EVALAPPS, David Ganyan, Barcelona, Spain) (June 2020, David Ganyan, Barcelona, Spain) tool. Seven participants were phone interviewed to gain more insight into the use of the EVALAPPS tool. Results: The co-creation workshop allowed conceptualizing the EVALAPPS tool. The feasibility study showed that all criteria from the Usability and Functionality dimensions had valid answers, while Reliability, Security, Privacy, and Health indicators were the dimensions with less valid answers. In all three apps, the dimension with the highest score was Usability/functionality, followed by app purpose. Clinical effectiveness and Development were the dimensions with the lowest scores in all three tested weight control apps. Conclusions: The participation of the multidisciplinary team and end-users in the conceptualization and testing of a tool to assess health apps was feasible and relevant for the usability of the tool.

Keywords: codesign; participatory research; mHealth; overweight; obesity; pilot testing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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