Nutrition Management Mini Programs in WeChat: Evaluation of Functionality and Quality (Preprint)
Authors: Sun Hui , Wu yanping , Sun jia , Zhou wu , Xu qian , Hu dandan 
Published: January 2024

BACKGROUND

Due to the improvement of living standards and the aging of the population, the medical and health field has attracted much attention.Among them, nutrition management has become the focus of domestic research.Nowadays,with the rapid development of the Internet, developers have developed wechat nutrition management mini programs aimed at improving and monitoring the nutritional health status of individuals. However, there has been insufficient scientific evaluation of the functionality and quality of the various nutritional applets that have emerged on the market.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the function and quality of China's wechat nutrition management mini program by using uMARS scale, and to explore the relationship between user rating, function rating and user-version mobile application Rating Scale (uMARS).

METHODS

Search for keywords such as nutrition, diet and meals on wechat platform, screen related mini programs according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, screen mini programs registered, updated and in use from January 2017 to November 2023, and collect basic information about mini programs such as experience score, registration time, update time and service type . The main functions of the mini program were integrated and summarized, and the function score of each mini program was obtained in the form of 1 point for each function. The quality of the mini program for nutrition management was evaluated by the user version Mobile Mini Program Rating Scale (uMARS) by 2 nutrient-related field evaluators and 1 user experiencer.

RESULTS

Of 891 small programs were searched and 27 small programs related to nutrition management were finally obtained. 85.2% (23/27) of the mini programs provide diet management, record daily diet to assess nutritional status, 70.4% (19/27) of the mini programs provide nutrition knowledge and classroom teaching, 59.3% (16/27) of the mini programs provide exercise management, daily exercise clock. Only 44.4% (12/27) of the mini programs included weight management.The uMARS total quality median score (out of 5) was 3.38(IQR3.13-3.58), indicating that most small programs scored higher than 3 points ,and the overall range 2.85 to 3.88. The dimensions of engagement ranged from 2 to 4.33 (median 3, IQR 2.67-3.67), with 2 being the lowest score for uMARS. The functional dimension ranges from 3 to 4(IQR 3.33-4), but there are two scores outside the normal range, 2.67 and 4.33. The aesthetic dimension ranges from 2.33 to 4.67(median 3.67,IQR3.33-4) The informational dimension ranges from 2.33 to 4.67(median 3.33, IQR 2.67-3.67).

CONCLUSIONS

This research evaluated the application of wechat mini programs related to nutrition management. The uMARS scale shows that these mini programs are of average quality, and most concentrate on health rather than nutrition. And the quality is uneven, the function is not perfect, urgent improvement. The future development direction should focus on enhancing quality, innovative functions, and encourage the active participation of professionals to provide more scientific and practical personalized diet guidance.