Liu N, Yin J, Tan SSL, Ngiam KY, Teo HH. Mobile health applications for older adults: a systematic review of interface and persuasive feature design.
J Am Med Inform Assoc 2021;
28:2483-2501. [PMID:
34472601 PMCID:
PMC8510293 DOI:
10.1093/jamia/ocab151]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Revised: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Mobile-based interventions have the potential to promote healthy aging among older adults. However, the adoption and use of mobile health applications are often low due to inappropriate designs. The aim of this systematic review is to identify, synthesize, and report interface and persuasive feature design recommendations of mobile health applications for elderly users to facilitate adoption and improve health-related outcomes.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We searched PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Scopus databases to identify studies that discussed and evaluated elderly-friendly interface and persuasive feature designs of mobile health applications using an elderly cohort.
RESULTS
We included 74 studies in our analysis. Our analysis revealed a total of 9 elderly-friendly interface design recommendations: 3 recommendations were targeted at perceptual capabilities of elderly users, 2 at motor coordination problems, and 4 at cognitive and memory deterioration. We also compiled and reported 5 categories of persuasive features: reminders, social features, game elements, personalized interventions, and health education.
DISCUSSION
Only 5 studies included design elements that were based on theories. Moreover, the majority of the included studies evaluated the application as a whole without examining end-user perceptions and the effectiveness of each single design feature. Finally, most studies had methodological limitations, and better research designs are needed to quantify the effectiveness of the application designs rigorously.
CONCLUSIONS
This review synthesizes elderly-friendly interface and persuasive feature design recommendations for mobile health applications from the existing literature and provides recommendations for future research in this area and guidelines for designers.
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