Abstract
Objective. This study aimed to evaluate reviews that have been posted
publicly on the app ‘MapMyRun’ to investigate which features were
associated with usage of the app. A secondary aim was to determine
whether MapMyRun consisted of specific behaviour change techniques
that would have increased the likelihood of users being engaged with the
app.
Methods. Reviews posted on MapMyRun by users between 1st May 2017-
30th April 2018 were extracted, coded and analysed using content
analysis.
Results. Eleven behaviour change techniques were identified among the
features of MapMyRun. A total of 3,253 reviews met the
inclusion/exclusion criteria, and 12 codes were developed. The codes
were grouped into 8 subthemes within 2 main themes: ‘Effort’ and ‘Selfmonitoring’. Consistent with previous literature, ‘Goal-Setting’ and ‘SelfMonitoring of Behaviour’ were two techniques included in MapMyRun.
Social features of MapMyRun facilitated competition among users, their
family, and friends.
Conclusions. This was the first qualitative review to assess a single
mobile health physical activity app and analyse it from the perspectives
of the users. Creators of future mobile health apps should focus on user
friendliness and the use of social features, as both may increase the
chances of users’ continued use with the app.
publicly on the app ‘MapMyRun’ to investigate which features were
associated with usage of the app. A secondary aim was to determine
whether MapMyRun consisted of specific behaviour change techniques
that would have increased the likelihood of users being engaged with the
app.
Methods. Reviews posted on MapMyRun by users between 1st May 2017-
30th April 2018 were extracted, coded and analysed using content
analysis.
Results. Eleven behaviour change techniques were identified among the
features of MapMyRun. A total of 3,253 reviews met the
inclusion/exclusion criteria, and 12 codes were developed. The codes
were grouped into 8 subthemes within 2 main themes: ‘Effort’ and ‘Selfmonitoring’. Consistent with previous literature, ‘Goal-Setting’ and ‘SelfMonitoring of Behaviour’ were two techniques included in MapMyRun.
Social features of MapMyRun facilitated competition among users, their
family, and friends.
Conclusions. This was the first qualitative review to assess a single
mobile health physical activity app and analyse it from the perspectives
of the users. Creators of future mobile health apps should focus on user
friendliness and the use of social features, as both may increase the
chances of users’ continued use with the app.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-12 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Digital Health |
| Volume | 7 |
| Early online date | 8 May 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).Keywords
- Behaviour change
- obesity
- MHealth
- PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
- apps.
