The Effectiveness of Publicly Available Web-Based Interventions in Promoting Health App Use, Digital Health Literacy, and Media Literacy: Pre-Post Evaluation Study
Authors: König Lars , Suhr Ralf 
Published: December 2023

Background

According to the World Health Organization, implementing mobile health (mHealth) technologies can increase access to quality health services worldwide. mHealth apps for smartphones, also known as health apps, are a central component of mHealth, and they are already used in diverse medical contexts. To benefit from health apps, potential users need specific skills that enable them to use such apps in a responsible and constructive manner.

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the free and widely used web-based intervention, The APPocalypse?. Besides providing knowledge about health apps, the web-based intervention was designed to promote digital health and media literacy by teaching skills that enable users to distinguish between trustworthy and less trustworthy health apps. It was hypothesized that after completing the web-based intervention, participants’ knowledge in the domain of health apps, their digital health literacy, and their media literacy would be higher than it was before completing the web-based intervention.

Methods

The study was divided into 3 parts. During part 1, participants (n=365; 181 female, 181 male, and 3 diverse; mean age 17.74, SD 1.391 years) provided demographic information and answered the pre- and postmeasurements. The measurements included questionnaires about participants’ knowledge in the domain of health apps, digital health literacy, and media literacy. During part 2, participants had 1 week to complete the web-based intervention. During part 3, participants answered the pre- and postmeasurements again. Furthermore, they answered educational quality and user experience questionnaires. Bayesian paired samples 2-tailed t tests were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Results

Overall, the results support the hypotheses. After completing the web-based intervention, participants demonstrated more elaborate knowledge in the domain of health apps. Specifically, they displayed higher competencies in the domains of subjective (Bayes factor10 [BF10]=1.475×1079; effect size δ=–1.327) and objective health app knowledge (BF10=8.162×1080; effect size δ=–1.350). Furthermore, participants demonstrated higher digital health literacy. Specifically, they displayed higher competencies in the domains of information appraisal (BF10=3.413×1043; effect size δ=–0.870), information searching (BF10=3.324×1023; effect size δ=–0.604), evaluating reliability (BF10=3.081×1035; effect size δ=–0.766), and determining relevance (BF10=3.451×1024; effect size δ=–0.618). Regarding media literacy, the results were mixed. Participants displayed higher competencies in the domain of technology literacy beliefs (BF10=1.533×1021; effect size δ=–0.570). In the domain of technology control beliefs, their competencies did not seem to improve (BF10=0.109; effect size δ=–0.058). In comparison to relevant benchmarks, the web-based intervention offers exceptional educational quality and a superior user experience.

Conclusions

The free web-based intervention The APPocalypse? might promote the constructive use of health apps, digital health literacy, and media literacy. Therefore, it may contribute to achieving the health-related United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.