Guidelines and recommendations for developing interactive ehealth apps for complex messaging in health promotion

Abstract

Background: The now ubiquitous catchphrase, "There's an app for that,"rings true owing to the growing number of mobile phone apps. In excess of 97,000 eHealth apps are available in major app stores. Yet the effectiveness of these apps varies greatly. While a minority of apps are developed grounded in theory and in conjunction with health care experts, the vast majority are not. This is concerning given the Hippocratic notion of "do no harm."There is currently no unified formal theory for developing interactive eHealth apps, and development is especially difficult when complex messaging is required, such as in health promotion and prevention. Objective: This paper aims to provide insight into..