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The Content, Quality, and Behavior Change Techniques in Nutrition-Themed Mobile Apps for Children in Canada: App Review and Evaluation Study
BACKGROUND: Children increasingly use mobile apps. Strategies to increase child engagement with apps include the use of gamification and images that incite fun and interaction, such as food. However, the foods and beverages that children are exposed to while using apps are unknown and may vary by ap...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
JMIR Publications
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8892278/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35171100 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/31537 |
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author | Brown, Jacqueline Marie Franco-Arellano, Beatriz Froome, Hannah Siddiqi, Amina Mahmood, Amina Arcand, JoAnne |
author_facet | Brown, Jacqueline Marie Franco-Arellano, Beatriz Froome, Hannah Siddiqi, Amina Mahmood, Amina Arcand, JoAnne |
author_sort | Brown, Jacqueline Marie |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Children increasingly use mobile apps. Strategies to increase child engagement with apps include the use of gamification and images that incite fun and interaction, such as food. However, the foods and beverages that children are exposed to while using apps are unknown and may vary by app type. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to identify the app content (ie, types of foods and beverages) included in nutrition-themed apps intended for children, to assess the use of game-like features, and to examine app characteristics such as overall quality and behavior change techniques (BCTs). METHODS: This analysis used a cross-sectional database of nutrition-themed apps intended for children (≤12 years), collected between May 2018 and June 2019 from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store (n=259). Apps were classified into four types: food games or nongames that included didactic nutrition guides, habit trackers, and other. Food and beverages were identified in apps and classified into 16 food categories, as recommended (8/16, 50%) and as not recommended (8/16, 50%) by dietary guidelines, and quantified by app type. Binomial logistic regression assessed whether game apps were associated with foods and beverages not recommended by guidelines. App quality, overall and by subscales, was determined using the Mobile App Rating Scale. The BCT Taxonomy was used to classify the different behavioral techniques that were identified in a subsample of apps (124/259, 47.9%). RESULTS: A total of 259 apps displayed a median of 6 (IQR 3) foods and beverages. Moreover, 62.5% (162/259) of apps were classified as food games, 27.4% (71/259) as didactic nutrition guides, 6.6% (17/259) as habit trackers, and 3.5% (9/259) as other. Most apps (198/259, 76.4%) displayed at least one food or beverage that was not recommended by the dietary guidelines. Food game apps were almost 3 times more likely to display food and beverages not recommended by the guidelines compared with nongame apps (β=2.8; P<.001). The overall app quality was moderate, with a median Mobile App Rating Scale score of 3.6 (IQR 0.7). Functionality was the subscale with the highest score (median 4, IQR 0.3). Nutrition guides were more likely to be educational and contain informative content on healthy eating (score 3.7), compared with the other app types, although they also scored significantly lower in engagement (score 2.3). Most apps (105/124, 84.7%) displayed at least one BCT, with the most common BCT being information about health consequences. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest nutrition-themed apps intended for children displayed food and beverage content not recommended by dietary guidelines, with gaming apps more likely to display not recommended foods than their nongame counterparts. Many apps have a moderate app quality, and the use of consequences (instead of rewards) was the most common BCT. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8892278 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | JMIR Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-88922782022-03-10 The Content, Quality, and Behavior Change Techniques in Nutrition-Themed Mobile Apps for Children in Canada: App Review and Evaluation Study Brown, Jacqueline Marie Franco-Arellano, Beatriz Froome, Hannah Siddiqi, Amina Mahmood, Amina Arcand, JoAnne JMIR Mhealth Uhealth Original Paper BACKGROUND: Children increasingly use mobile apps. Strategies to increase child engagement with apps include the use of gamification and images that incite fun and interaction, such as food. However, the foods and beverages that children are exposed to while using apps are unknown and may vary by app type. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to identify the app content (ie, types of foods and beverages) included in nutrition-themed apps intended for children, to assess the use of game-like features, and to examine app characteristics such as overall quality and behavior change techniques (BCTs). METHODS: This analysis used a cross-sectional database of nutrition-themed apps intended for children (≤12 years), collected between May 2018 and June 2019 from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store (n=259). Apps were classified into four types: food games or nongames that included didactic nutrition guides, habit trackers, and other. Food and beverages were identified in apps and classified into 16 food categories, as recommended (8/16, 50%) and as not recommended (8/16, 50%) by dietary guidelines, and quantified by app type. Binomial logistic regression assessed whether game apps were associated with foods and beverages not recommended by guidelines. App quality, overall and by subscales, was determined using the Mobile App Rating Scale. The BCT Taxonomy was used to classify the different behavioral techniques that were identified in a subsample of apps (124/259, 47.9%). RESULTS: A total of 259 apps displayed a median of 6 (IQR 3) foods and beverages. Moreover, 62.5% (162/259) of apps were classified as food games, 27.4% (71/259) as didactic nutrition guides, 6.6% (17/259) as habit trackers, and 3.5% (9/259) as other. Most apps (198/259, 76.4%) displayed at least one food or beverage that was not recommended by the dietary guidelines. Food game apps were almost 3 times more likely to display food and beverages not recommended by the guidelines compared with nongame apps (β=2.8; P<.001). The overall app quality was moderate, with a median Mobile App Rating Scale score of 3.6 (IQR 0.7). Functionality was the subscale with the highest score (median 4, IQR 0.3). Nutrition guides were more likely to be educational and contain informative content on healthy eating (score 3.7), compared with the other app types, although they also scored significantly lower in engagement (score 2.3). Most apps (105/124, 84.7%) displayed at least one BCT, with the most common BCT being information about health consequences. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest nutrition-themed apps intended for children displayed food and beverage content not recommended by dietary guidelines, with gaming apps more likely to display not recommended foods than their nongame counterparts. Many apps have a moderate app quality, and the use of consequences (instead of rewards) was the most common BCT. JMIR Publications 2022-02-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8892278/ /pubmed/35171100 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/31537 Text en ©Jacqueline Marie Brown, Beatriz Franco-Arellano, Hannah Froome, Amina Siddiqi, Amina Mahmood, JoAnne Arcand. Originally published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (https://mhealth.jmir.org), 16.02.2022. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://mhealth.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. |
spellingShingle | Original Paper Brown, Jacqueline Marie Franco-Arellano, Beatriz Froome, Hannah Siddiqi, Amina Mahmood, Amina Arcand, JoAnne The Content, Quality, and Behavior Change Techniques in Nutrition-Themed Mobile Apps for Children in Canada: App Review and Evaluation Study |
title | The Content, Quality, and Behavior Change Techniques in Nutrition-Themed Mobile Apps for Children in Canada: App Review and Evaluation Study |
title_full | The Content, Quality, and Behavior Change Techniques in Nutrition-Themed Mobile Apps for Children in Canada: App Review and Evaluation Study |
title_fullStr | The Content, Quality, and Behavior Change Techniques in Nutrition-Themed Mobile Apps for Children in Canada: App Review and Evaluation Study |
title_full_unstemmed | The Content, Quality, and Behavior Change Techniques in Nutrition-Themed Mobile Apps for Children in Canada: App Review and Evaluation Study |
title_short | The Content, Quality, and Behavior Change Techniques in Nutrition-Themed Mobile Apps for Children in Canada: App Review and Evaluation Study |
title_sort | content, quality, and behavior change techniques in nutrition-themed mobile apps for children in canada: app review and evaluation study |
topic | Original Paper |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8892278/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35171100 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/31537 |
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