mHealth Use | Primary Care Patients Reporting Use |
---|---|
Mobile health use and type | |
Find health information | 324 (91.8) |
Use health apps | 202 (57.2) |
Track or manage health condition | 191 (54.1) |
Frequency of mHealth use (n = 349) | |
Once a month or less | 130 (37.3) |
2–3 times a month | 111 (31.8) |
1–6 times a week | 70 (20.1) |
Once a day or more | 38 (10.9) |
Favorite app (n = 235) | |
General health app (eg, WedMD, iTriage, Mayo Clinic) | 85 (36.2) |
Activity/fitness (eg, My Fitness Pal) | 34 (14.5) |
Weight/diet (eg, Weight Watchers, LoseIt) | 24 (10.2) |
Reproductive (menstrual, pregnancy, or infant trackers) | 19 (8.1) |
Web search (eg, Google, Bing) | 18 (7.7) |
More than one favorite app | 18 (7.7) |
Other (eg, goal trackers, smoking logs) | 14 (6.0) |
Patient portal (eg, e-care, MyChart) | 10 (4.3) |
Medication (eg, pharmacy app, pill trackers) | 7 (3.0) |
Disease specific (eg, glucose monitoring, mood monitoring) | 6 (2.6) |
Ever stopped using an app after a short time (n = 310) | 122 (39.4) |
Reasons cited for stopping use of an app after a short time (n = 98) | |
Took too much time | 47 (48.0) |
Didn't do what you wanted | 32 (32.7) |
Problem with login/password | 6 (6.1) |
Other | 13 (13.3) |
How mHealth users learned about apps (n = 277) | |
Doctor/clinic | 27 (9.8) |
Family/friend | 37 (13.4) |
Website/Internet | 150 (54.2) |
Flier/mail/other ad | 7 (2.5) |
Other (eg, “app store”) | 56 (20.2) |
Importance for PCPs to know about mHealth use (n = 311) | |
Very important | 37 (11.9) |
Important | 59 (19.0) |
A little important | 93 (29.9) |
Not at all important | 122 (39.2) |
My doctor has recommended a health app (n = 322) | 22 (6.8) |
How useful this feature would be on your phone* | |
Appointment reminders (n = 318) | 4.0 ± 1.4 |
Medication reminders (n = 312) | 3.6 ± 1.7 |
General health information (n = 314) | 3.5 ± 1.4 |
Track progress (eg, mood, weight) (n = 310) | 3.5 ± 1.5 |
Help changing a habit (n = 308) | 3.2 ± 1.7 |
Feedback on how I'm doing (n = 312) | 3.2 ± 1.6 |
Tell doctor how I'm doing (n = 311) | 3.2 ± 1.7 |
Stress management/coping (n = 310) | 3.1 ± 1.7 |
Support group/social network (n = 308) | 2.3 ± 1.8 |
Tell friend/family how I'm doing (n = 305) | 1.9 ± 1.8 |
Data are number (%) or mean ± standard deviation.
↵* Usefulness of the features was rated on a scale of 0 (least useful) to 5 (most useful).
PCPs, primary care providers.