Women’s mHealth Apps: Scoping Review and Content Analysis of Privacy, Data Sharing, and Data Security Policies (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Najd Alfawzan ◽  
Markus Christen ◽  
Giovanni Spitale ◽  
Nikola Biller-Andorno
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Data Sharing ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Data Security ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Security Policies ◽  
Privacy Policy ◽  
Mhealth Apps

BACKGROUND Women’s mobile health (mHealth) is a growing phenomenon in the mobile applications (apps) global market. An increasing number of women around the globe use apps with so-called female technology (femtech). Given the often private and sensitive nature of the data collected by such apps an ethical assessment from the perspective of data privacy, sharing, and security policies is warranted. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this scoping review and content analysis is to assess the privacy policy, data sharing and security policies of women’s mobile health apps current on the international market (AppStore’s on IOS system and GooglePlay’s on Android system). METHODS We reviewed 23 most popular women’s mHealth Apps on the market, we focused on publicly available apps on both Apple AppStore and GooglePlay. The 23 downloaded apps were assessed manually by two independent reviewers against mix of users’ data privacy and data sharing and security assessment criteria. RESULTS All of the 23 apps collected personal health-related data. 23 (100%) allowed behavioural tracking and 14 (61%) allowed location tracking. Only 16 apps (69.5%) displayed a privacy policy, and 12 apps (56.5%) requested consent from users, one app had a pseudo-consent. 3 apps collected data before obtaining conscnt. 20 apps (87%) shared users’ data with a third party, and for the remaining 3 apps it is not known if they shared data or not. Only 13 apps (56.5%) provided information to users about data security. CONCLUSIONS A large part of the most popular women’s mHealth apps on the market have poor data privacy, sharing, and security standards. Even though regulations exist, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), current practices do not follow them. The failure standards of the assessed women’s mHealth apps to meet basic data privacy and security is unacceptable both ethically and legally.

scholarly journals Attitudes of General Practitioners Toward Prescription of Mobile Health Apps: Qualitative Study

10.2196/21795 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e21795
Author(s):  
Aline Sarradon-Eck ◽  
Tiphanie Bouchez ◽  
Lola Auroy ◽  
Matthieu Schuers ◽  
David Darmon
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Patient Data ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Medical Liability ◽  
Medical Work ◽  
Mhealth Apps

Background Mobile health (mHealth) apps are a potential means of empowering patients, especially in the case of multimorbidity, which complicates patients’ care needs. Previous studies have shown that general practitioners (GPs) have both expectations and concerns regarding patients’ use of mHealth apps that could impact their willingness to recommend the apps to patients. Objective The aim of this qualitative study is to investigate French GPs’ attitudes toward the prescription of mHealth apps or devices aimed toward patients by analyzing GPs’ perceptions and expectations of mHealth technologies. Methods A total of 36 GPs were interviewed individually (n=20) or in a discussion group (n=16). All participants were in private practice. A qualitative analysis of each interview and focus group was conducted using grounded theory analysis. Results Considering the value assigned to mHealth apps by participants and their willingness or resistance to prescribe them, 3 groups were defined based on the attitudes or positions adopted by GPs: digital engagement (favorable attitude; mHealth apps are perceived as additional resources and complementary tools that facilitate the medical work, the follow-up care, and the monitoring of patients; and apps increase patients’ compliance and empowerment); patient protection (related to the management of patient care and fear of risks for patients, concerns about patient data privacy and security, doubt about the usefulness for empowering patients, standardization of the medical decision process, overmedicalization, risks for individual freedom, and increasing social inequalities in health); doctor protection (fear of additional tasks and burden, doubt about the actionability of patient-gathered health data, risk for medical liability, dehumanization of the patient-doctor relationship, fear of increased drug prescription, and commodification of patient data). Conclusions A deep understanding of both the expectations and fears of GPs is essential to motivate them to recommend mHealth apps to their patients. The results of this study show the need to provide appropriate education and training to enhance GPs’ digital skills. Certification of the apps by an independent authority should be encouraged to reassure physicians about ethical and data security issues. Our results highlight the need to overcome technical issues such as interoperability between data collection and medical records to limit the disruption of medical work because of data flow.

scholarly journals Privacy Assessment in Mobile Health Apps: Scoping Review (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Benjumea ◽  
Jorge Ropero ◽  
Octavio Rivera-Romero ◽  
Enrique Dorronzoro-Zubiete ◽  
Alejandro Carrasco
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Health ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Scoring Method ◽  
Sensitive Data ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Mobile Health Apps ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Mhealth Apps

BACKGROUND Privacy has always been a concern, especially in the health domain. The proliferation of mobile health (mHealth) apps has led to a large amount of sensitive data being generated. Some authors have performed privacy assessments of mHealth apps. They have evaluated diverse privacy components; however, different authors have used different criteria for their assessments. OBJECTIVE This scoping review aims to understand how privacy is assessed for mHealth apps, focusing on the components, scales, criteria, and scoring methods used. A simple taxonomy to categorize the privacy assessments of mHealth apps based on component evaluation is also proposed. METHODS We followed the methodology defined by Arksey and O’Malley to conduct a scoping review. Included studies were categorized based on the privacy component, which was assessed using the proposed taxonomy. RESULTS The database searches retrieved a total of 710 citations—24 of them met the defined selection criteria, and data were extracted from them. Even though the inclusion criteria considered articles published since 2009, all the studies that were ultimately included were published from 2014 onward. Although 12 papers out of 24 (50%) analyzed only privacy, 8 (33%) analyzed both privacy and security. Moreover, 4 papers (17%) analyzed full apps, with privacy being just part of the assessment. The evaluation criteria used by authors were heterogeneous and were based on their experience, the literature, and/or existing legal frameworks. Regarding the set of items used for the assessments, each article defined a different one. Items included app permissions, analysis of the destination, analysis of the content of communications, study of the privacy policy, use of remote storage, and existence of a password to access the app, among many others. Most of the included studies provided a scoring method that enables the comparison of privacy among apps. CONCLUSIONS The privacy assessment of mHealth apps is a complex task, as the criteria used by different authors for their evaluations are very heterogeneous. Although some studies about privacy assessment have been conducted, a very large set of items to evaluate privacy has been used up until now. In-app information and privacy policies are primarily utilized by the scientific community to extract privacy information from mHealth apps. The creation of a scale based on more objective criteria is a desirable step forward for privacy assessment in the future.

scholarly journals Privacy Assessment in Mobile Health Apps: Scoping Review

10.2196/18868 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. e18868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Benjumea ◽  
Jorge Ropero ◽  
Octavio Rivera-Romero ◽  
Enrique Dorronzoro-Zubiete ◽  
Alejandro Carrasco
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Health ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Scoring Method ◽  
Sensitive Data ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Mobile Health Apps ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Mhealth Apps

Background Privacy has always been a concern, especially in the health domain. The proliferation of mobile health (mHealth) apps has led to a large amount of sensitive data being generated. Some authors have performed privacy assessments of mHealth apps. They have evaluated diverse privacy components; however, different authors have used different criteria for their assessments. Objective This scoping review aims to understand how privacy is assessed for mHealth apps, focusing on the components, scales, criteria, and scoring methods used. A simple taxonomy to categorize the privacy assessments of mHealth apps based on component evaluation is also proposed. Methods We followed the methodology defined by Arksey and O’Malley to conduct a scoping review. Included studies were categorized based on the privacy component, which was assessed using the proposed taxonomy. Results The database searches retrieved a total of 710 citations—24 of them met the defined selection criteria, and data were extracted from them. Even though the inclusion criteria considered articles published since 2009, all the studies that were ultimately included were published from 2014 onward. Although 12 papers out of 24 (50%) analyzed only privacy, 8 (33%) analyzed both privacy and security. Moreover, 4 papers (17%) analyzed full apps, with privacy being just part of the assessment. The evaluation criteria used by authors were heterogeneous and were based on their experience, the literature, and/or existing legal frameworks. Regarding the set of items used for the assessments, each article defined a different one. Items included app permissions, analysis of the destination, analysis of the content of communications, study of the privacy policy, use of remote storage, and existence of a password to access the app, among many others. Most of the included studies provided a scoring method that enables the comparison of privacy among apps. Conclusions The privacy assessment of mHealth apps is a complex task, as the criteria used by different authors for their evaluations are very heterogeneous. Although some studies about privacy assessment have been conducted, a very large set of items to evaluate privacy has been used up until now. In-app information and privacy policies are primarily utilized by the scientific community to extract privacy information from mHealth apps. The creation of a scale based on more objective criteria is a desirable step forward for privacy assessment in the future.

scholarly journals Attitudes of General Practitioners Toward Prescription of Mobile Health Apps: Qualitative Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline Sarradon-Eck ◽  
Tiphanie Bouchez ◽  
Lola Auroy ◽  
Matthieu Schuers ◽  
David Darmon
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Patient Data ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Medical Liability ◽  
Medical Work ◽  
Mhealth Apps

BACKGROUND Mobile health (mHealth) apps are a potential means of empowering patients, especially in the case of multimorbidity, which complicates patients’ care needs. Previous studies have shown that general practitioners (GPs) have both expectations and concerns regarding patients’ use of mHealth apps that could impact their willingness to recommend the apps to patients. OBJECTIVE The aim of this qualitative study is to investigate French GPs’ attitudes toward the prescription of mHealth apps or devices aimed toward patients by analyzing GPs’ perceptions and expectations of mHealth technologies. METHODS A total of 36 GPs were interviewed individually (n=20) or in a discussion group (n=16). All participants were in private practice. A qualitative analysis of each interview and focus group was conducted using grounded theory analysis. RESULTS Considering the value assigned to mHealth apps by participants and their willingness or resistance to prescribe them, 3 groups were defined based on the attitudes or positions adopted by GPs: <i>digital engagement</i> (favorable attitude; mHealth apps are perceived as additional resources and complementary tools that facilitate the medical work, the follow-up care, and the monitoring of patients; and apps increase patients’ compliance and empowerment); <i>patient protection</i> (related to the management of patient care and fear of risks for patients, concerns about patient data privacy and security, doubt about the usefulness for empowering patients, standardization of the medical decision process, overmedicalization, risks for individual freedom, and increasing social inequalities in health); <i>doctor protection</i> (fear of additional tasks and burden, doubt about the actionability of patient-gathered health data, risk for medical liability, dehumanization of the patient-doctor relationship, fear of increased drug prescription, and commodification of patient data). CONCLUSIONS A deep understanding of both the expectations and fears of GPs is essential to motivate them to recommend mHealth apps to their patients. The results of this study show the need to provide appropriate education and training to enhance GPs’ digital skills. Certification of the apps by an independent authority should be encouraged to reassure physicians about ethical and data security issues. Our results highlight the need to overcome technical issues such as interoperability between data collection and medical records to limit the disruption of medical work because of data flow.

scholarly journals Can mobile health apps replace GPs? A scoping review of comparisons between mobile apps and GP tasks

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Apichai Wattanapisit ◽  
Chin Hai Teo ◽  
Sanhapan Wattanapisit ◽  
Emylia Teoh ◽  
Wing Jun Woo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practitioners ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Disease Diagnosis ◽  
App Store ◽  
Manual Search ◽  
Google Play ◽  
Mhealth Apps

Abstract Background Mobile health applications (mHealth apps) are increasingly being used to perform tasks that are conventionally performed by general practitioners (GPs), such as those involved in promoting health, preventing disease, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, and support for health services. This raises an important question: can mobile apps replace GPs? This study aimed to systematically search for and identify mobile apps that can perform GP tasks. Methods A scoping review was carried out. The Google Play Store and Apple App Store were searched for mobile apps, using search terms derived from the UK Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) guideline on GPs’ core capabilities and competencies. A manual search was also performed to identify additional apps. Results The final analysis included 17 apps from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, and 21 apps identified by the manual search. mHealth apps were found to have the potential to replace GPs for tasks such as recording medical history and making diagnoses; performing some physical examinations; supporting clinical decision making and management; assisting in urgent, long-term, and disease-specific care; and health promotion. In contrast, mHealth apps were unable to perform medical procedures, appropriately utilise other professionals, and coordinate a team-based approach. Conclusions This scoping review highlights the functions of mHealth apps that can potentially replace GP tasks. Future research should focus on assessing the performance and quality of mHealth apps in comparison with that of real doctors.

Reinforcing the cyber resilience of a credit institution in Industry 4.0

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 998-1012
Author(s):  
G.V. Fedotova ◽  
D.D. Tkachenko
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Data Security ◽  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
Credit Institution ◽  
Security Systems ◽  
Banking Systems ◽  
It Systems ◽  
Smart Technologies ◽  
Banking Development

Subject. The article discusses the modeling of preventive protection of IT systems and evaluates their cyber resilience. Objectives. The study evaluates the existing threats and determines how informatization processes may unfold in the credit segment. Methods. Research is based on methods of regulatory and legislative analysis. We evaluate today’s public administration of cybersecurity in the financial and credit sector. To give a view of the existing situation and sum up the sector’s performance for the recent years, we performed the content analysis of statistics on data hacking and leakages. Results. The article highlights new trends in the financial and credit sector and the growing complexity of data security systems. As proposed by the Bank of Russia, the integration of smart technologies is showed to reinforce the cybersecurity of banking systems. Conclusions and Relevance. The informatization of all banking operation systems, growing complexity of procedures and work logs require new robust resources to be integrated into financial technologies. Stronger cybersecurity should lay a trend in the financial and credit sector in the nearest future. The findings can be used to flag strategic milestones of the banking development in the information-driven society.

A New User-controlled and Efficient Encrypted Data Sharing Model in Cloud Storage

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 356-363
Author(s):  
Yuezhong Wu ◽  
Wei Chen ◽  
Shuhong Chen ◽  
Guojun Wang ◽  
Changyun Li
Keyword(s):  
Data Sharing ◽  
Data Security ◽  
Cloud Storage ◽  
Screening Program ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Active System ◽  
Encrypted Data ◽  
Active User ◽  
User Data

Background: Cloud storage is generally used to provide on-demand services with sufficient scalability in an efficient network environment, and various encryption algorithms are typically applied to protect the data in the cloud. However, it is non-trivial to obtain the original data after encryption and efficient methods are needed to access the original data. Methods: In this paper, we propose a new user-controlled and efficient encrypted data sharing model in cloud storage. It preprocesses user data to ensure the confidentiality and integrity based on triple encryption scheme of CP-ABE ciphertext access control mechanism and integrity verification. Moreover, it adopts secondary screening program to achieve efficient ciphertext retrieval by using distributed Lucene technology and fine-grained decision tree. In this way, when a trustworthy third party is introduced, the security and reliability of data sharing can be guaranteed. To provide data security and efficient retrieval, we also combine active user with active system. Results: Experimental results show that the proposed model can ensure data security in cloud storage services platform as well as enhance the operational performance of data sharing. Conclusion: The proposed security sharing mechanism works well in an actual cloud storage environment.

The Scoping Review of Smart Healthcare Applications in Medical Health (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Hang Wu ◽  
Ching Ju Chiu ◽  
Yen Ju Liou ◽  
Chun Ying Lee ◽  
Susan C. Hu
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Search Strategy ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Related Research ◽  
Geographic Access ◽  
Smart Healthcare ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Healthcare Interventions

BACKGROUND There is still no consensus on research terms for smart healthcare worldwide. The study conducted by Lewis 10 years ago showed extending geographic access was the major health purpose of health-related information communication technology (ICT), but today's situation may be different because of the rapid development of smart healthcare. Objective: The main aim of this study is to classify recent smart healthcare interventions. Therefore, this scoping review was conducted as a feasible tool for exploring this domain and summarizing related research findings. OBJECTIVE The main aim of this study is to classify recent smart healthcare interventions. Therefore, this scoping review was conducted as a feasible tool for exploring this domain and summarizing related research findings. METHODS The scoping review relies on the analysis of previous reviews of smart healthcare interventions assessed for their effectiveness in the framework of a systematic review and/or meta-analysis. The search strategy was based on the identification of smart healthcare interventions reported as the proposed keywords. In the analysis, the reviews published from January 2015 to December 2019 were included. RESULTS The number of publications for smart healthcare's systematic reviews has continued to grow in the past five years. The search strategy yielded 210 systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses addressed to target groups of interest. 68.5% of these publications used mobile health as a keyword. According to the classification by Lewis, 37.62% of the literature was applied to extend geographic access. According to the classification by the Joint Commission of Taiwan (JCT), 48.84% of smart healthcare was applied in clinical areas, and 60% of it was applied in outpatient medical services. CONCLUSIONS Smart healthcare interventions are being widely used in clinical settings and for disease management. The research of mobile health has received the most attention among smart healthcare interventions. The main purpose of mobile health was used to extend geographic access to increase medical accessibility in clinical areas. CLINICALTRIAL none

EFFECTIVNESS OF SPECIFIC MOBILE HEALTH APPLICATIONS (mHEALTH-APPS)in GESTATIONAL DIABTETES MELLITUS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Eberle ◽  
Maxine Löhnert
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Health ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Clinical Parameters ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Manual Search ◽  
Mobile Health Applications ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Mhealth Apps ◽  
Health Applications

BACKGROUND Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) emerges worldwide and is closely associated with short- and long-term health issues in women and their offspring, such as pregnancy and birth complications respectively comorbidities, Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) as well as cardiovascular disease (CD). Against this background mobile health applications (mHealth-Apps) do open up new possibilities to improve the management of GDM clearly. OBJECTIVE Since there is – to our knowledge – no systematic literature review published, which focusses on the effectiveness of specific mHealth-Apps on clinical health-related short and long-term outcomes of mother and child, we conducted these much-needed analyses. METHODS Data sources: A systematic literature search in Medline (Pubmed), Cochrane Library, Embase, CINAHL and Web of Science was performed including full text publications since 2008 up to date. An additional manual search in references and Google Scholar was conducted subsequently. Study Eligibility Criteria: Women diagnosed with GDM using specific mHealth-Apps during pregnancy compared to control groups, which met main clinical parameters and outcomes in GDM management as well as maternity and offspring care. Study appraisal and synthesis methods: Study quality was assessed and rated “strong”, “moderate” or “weak” by using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) tool. Study results were strongly categorized by outcomes; an additional qualitative summary was assessed. Study selection: Overall, n= 114 studies were analyzed, n= 46 duplicates were removed, n=5 studies met the eligible criteria and n=1 study was assessed by manual search subsequently. In total, n=6 publications, analyzing n=408 GDM patients in the interventional and n=405 women diagnosed with GDM in the control groups, were included. These studies were divided into n=5 two-arm randomized controlled trials (RCT) and n=1 controlled clinical trial (CCT). RESULTS Distinct improvements in clinical parameters and outcomes, such as fasting blood glucoses (FBG), 2-hour postprandial blood glucoses (PBG), off target blood glucose measurements (OTBG), delivery modes and patient compliance were analyzed in GDM patients using specific mHealth-Apps compared to matched control groups. CONCLUSIONS mHealth-Apps clearly improve clinical outcomes in management of GDM effectively. More studies need to be done more in detail.

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