Skip to main content

Table 5 Summary of ethical disclosures and software issues

From: The evolution of mobile apps for asthma: an updated systematic assessment of content and tools

 

2011 (n = 78)

New 2013 (n = 92) ¤

 

All 2013 (n = 147) ¤

Quality domain

Yes

% †

Yes

%

P value ‡

Yes

%

Ethical disclosures

       

Attribution of authorship§

21

36%

26

33%

0.856

40

33%

Purpose clearly stated

69

88%

88

96%

0.090

141

96%

Privacy policy available

7

9%

33

36%

<0.001*

44

30%

Information versioning

1

1%

3

3%

0.626

4

3%

Contact details provided

32

41%

59

64%

0.003*

90

61%

Funding model clear

21

27%

30

33%

0.502

49

33%

Editorial/advertising policy

0

0%

5

5%

0.063

5

3%

Software issues

       

Data entry validation issues**

9

33%

8

32%

1.000

16

33%

Functionality issues

13

17%

9

10%

0.252

15

10%

User interface issues

25

32%

34

37%

0.522

45

31%

Crashes

8

10%

8

9%

0.796

13

9%

Network issues

3

4%

20

22%

<0.001*

25

17%

Other issues

10

13%

18

20%

0.301

28

19%

  1. The table compares the proportion of apps satisfying best practices for content attribution and ethical disclosures (detailed in Additional file 1: Table AF3), and those with software issues identified during testing (detailed with examples in Additional file 1: Table AF4), between 2011 and 2013.
  2. †The proportion of information apps that satisfy a particular domain. Unless otherwise stated, the denominator is the total number of apps shown in the relevant heading.
  3. ‡Two-tailed probability obtained from Fisher’s exact test of the comparison of topic coverage in apps available in 2011 and those available since 2013. *After applying a Holm-Bonferroni correction to control the family-wise error rate within each domain at less than or equal to 5%, three comparisons were significant.
  4. §Denominator for proportions reflects only apps with attributable content, e.g., written information, measurement scales, pollen/pollution data. Attribution of the software itself lies with the developers whose details are always released. Denominators: 2011 n = 59, New 2013 n = 80, 2013 n = 120.
  5. ¤ New 2013, Apps available in 2013 that were not available in 2011; All 2013, All apps available in 2013, excluding those available in 2011 that were subsequently discontinued.
  6. **Data entry validation concerns steps taken to prevent out-of-range or inappropriate data being stored in an app, for example, textual values allowed in a numeric field. As a result, the denominator reflects only apps permitting data entry, e.g., calculators, diaries. Denominators: 2011 n = 27, New 2013 n = 25, 2013 n = 49.