JMIR mHealth and uHealth
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JMIR mHealth and uHealth · Jan 2014
FoodSwitch: A Mobile Phone App to Enable Consumers to Make Healthier Food Choices and Crowdsourcing of National Food Composition Data.
Front-of-pack nutrition labeling (FoPL) schemes can help consumers understand the nutritional content of foods and may aid healthier food choices. However, most packaged foods in Australia carry no easily interpretable FoPL, and no standard FoPL system has yet been mandated. About two thirds of Australians now own a smartphone. ⋯ FoodSwitch has empowered Australian consumers seeking to make better food choices. In parallel, the huge volume of crowdsourced data has provided a novel means for low-cost, real-time tracking of the nutritional composition of Australian foods. There appears to be significant opportunity for this approach in many other countries.
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JMIR mHealth and uHealth · Jan 2014
Parent-targeted mobile phone intervention to increase physical activity in sedentary children: randomized pilot trial.
Low levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity are associated with adverse health consequences. ⋯ Parent-targeted mobile phone interventions are feasible, yet more intense interventions may be needed to support parents' efforts to increase their children's physical activity to levels that approximate national recommendations.
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JMIR mHealth and uHealth · Jan 2014
Who Uses Smoking Cessation Apps? A Feasibility Study Across Three Countries via Smartphones.
Smartphone use is growing worldwide. While hundreds of smoking cessation apps are currently available in the app stores, there is no information about who uses them. Smartphones also offer potential as a research tool, but this has not previously been explored. ⋯ A smartphone app was able to reach smokers across three countries that were not seeking professional help, but were ready to quit within the next 30 days. Respondents were relatively young and almost demographically similar across all three countries. They also frequently used other health related apps, mostly without checking the credibility of their publishers.
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JMIR mHealth and uHealth · Jan 2014
Supporting cancer patients in illness management: usability evaluation of a mobile app.
Mobile phones and tablets currently represent a significant presence in people's everyday lives. They enable access to different information and services independent of current place and time. Such widespread connectivity offers significant potential in different app areas including health care. ⋯ Understanding and addressing users' requirements is one of the main prerequisites for developing useful and effective technology-based health interventions. The results of this study outline different user requirements related to the design of the mobile patient support app for cancer patients. The results will be used in the iterative development of the Connect Mobile app and can also inform other developers and researchers in development, integration, and evaluation of mobile health apps and services that support cancer patients in managing their health-related issues.
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JMIR mHealth and uHealth · Jan 2014
ReviewMobile technologies and geographic information systems to improve health care systems: a literature review.
A growing body of research has employed mobile technologies and geographic information systems (GIS) for enhancing health care and health information systems, but there is yet a lack of studies of how these two types of systems are integrated together into the information infrastructure of an organization so as to provide a basis for data analysis and decision support. Integration of data and technical systems across the organization is necessary for efficient large-scale implementation. ⋯ A vast majority of the papers report positive results, including retention rate, benefits for patients, and economic gains for the health care provider. However, implementation issues are little discussed, which means the reasons for the scarcity of large-scale implementations, which might be expected given the overwhelmingly positive results, are yet unclear. There is also little combination between GIS and mobile technologies. In order for health care processes to be effective they must integrate different kinds of existing technologies and data. Further research and development is necessary to provide integration and better understand implementation issues.