Chinese Mobile Health Apps for Preventing and Managing Pelvic Floor Dysfunction: Quality Assessment and Content Analysis.

BACKGROUND

Pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) is a highly prevalent health problem, encompassing urinary incontinence, emptying disorders of the bladder, fecal incontinence, emptying disorders of the bowel, pelvic organ prolapse, sexual dysfunction, and chronic pelvic pain. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions delivered through apps can provide remote health services to improve patient compliance and enhance treatment effectiveness. Although apps for preventing and managing PFD have been developed and used, the features and quality of these apps in China have not been systematically examined.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to systematically summarize the functions and evaluate the quality of the existing mHealth apps for preventing and managing all kinds of PFD, such as urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, and chronic pelvic pain.

METHODS

We systematically searched for potential PFD apps on the Apple App Store, Huawei AppGallery, and VIVO App Store. Apps were included if they were free, designed for preventing or managing PFD, in the Chinese language, could be downloaded and run on Android, Harmony, or iOS operating systems (OS), and incorporated elements of preventing and managing PFD. We excluded apps that were intended for use by health care providers and not relevant to PFD. Apps that met the inclusion criteria were downloaded and included for final analysis. The user version of the Mobile App Rating Scale (uMARS) was used to assess the apps' quality and summarize the apps' functionality according to guidelines.

RESULTS

Of the 3897 apps screened, 46 apps that met the inclusion criteria were included in the final analysis. All apps were developed by corporations. More than half of the apps had download counts exceeding 10,000, and 24 (52.2%) apps scored 4 or higher in app stores. Furthermore, nearly half of the apps (n=21, 45.7%) had been updated within the past month at the time of retrieval. The overall uMARS scores ranged from 2.29 to 4.50, with a mean uMARS score of 3.46 (SD 0.50), which is considered acceptable quality. Based on uMARS scores, 15.2% (n=7) were rated as poor quality, 65.2% (n=30) as acceptable, and 19.6% (n=9) as good quality. More than half of the apps provided the functions of exercise (n=44, 95.7%), personal information recording (n=31, 67.4%), and health education (n=28, 60.9%). Only 5 apps provided 5 or more functions.

CONCLUSIONS

The apps for PFD revealed acceptable quality, and the majority provided exercise, personal information recording, and health education functions. However, many apps lacked comprehensive functionalities and did not provide immediate feedback or high-quality educational information. Health care providers should follow international guidelines to create high-quality, evidence-based, multifunctional apps for PFD. Future studies should explore the effects of the apps and real-world user feedback data in clinical settings.