Evaluation of Persian language epilepsy-related mobile apps: A systematic review and quality assessment with a focus on content (Preprint)
BACKGROUND In Iran, around 0.05 of population suffer from epilepsy. Poorer health outcomes stem from limited health literacy. The use of mHealth, especially for educating patients in terms of self-care can be very effective. But the important thing is the content that is presented by apps, especially when unreliable or biased information can negatively affect the patient-doctor relationship, causing anxiety or stress. Also, usability of mHealth apps and their impact on behavior change are the other important issues that should be considered. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of Persian language epilepsy-related mobile applications in terms of functionality and quality with a focus on content. METHODS The Persian equivalent of the keywords 'epilepsy' and 'seizure' were searched in the Google Play, Cafe Bazaar and IranApps app stores and the Persian language applications about epilepsy were extracted. These apps were evaluated by two trained reviewers independently using the uMARS scale and DISCERN instrument. Also apps’ prices and the number of installations were assessed. RESULTS A total of 659 applications were retrieved, 78 of which were epilepsy-related. After exclusion of non-Persian language and duplicate apps, there remained 11 relevant apps. The overall mean uMARS score was 2.8 out of 5 while six out of 11 apps (54%) scored higher than 3. The mean figures for the section-specific scores were as follows: engagement 2.2, functionality 4.0, aesthetics 3.3, and information 2.3. The overall DISCERN scores ranged from 26 to 40 out of 80, while the mean score was 34.5. The mean score of reliability was 18.5. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that the overall information quality of the epilepsy apps is poor. The most important missing characteristics of these apps include lack of functionalities for self-care, missing entry date, lack of details about additional sources and inexistence of the risks/benefits of each treatment. The findings suggest that more efforts should be made to develop evidence-based epilepsy-related apps to cover broader domains of self-care and behavioral change techniques.