The German version of the mHealth App Usability Questionnaire (GER-MAUQ): How to use in general practice?

Angelina Müller, Theodora Tacke

Keywords: Digital Health, User-centred-design, Digital transformation in Healthcare

Background:

In Germany, only a few standardized evaluation tools for assessing the usability of mobile health apps exist so far, although the implementation of digital tools is rapidly increasing. Since mobile health apps and their usability are usually evaluated in a specific patient cohort transferring the findings to general practice settings is challenging. We achieved to translate and validate the English patient version for standalone apps of the mHealth App Usability Questionnaire (MAUQ) into a German version for patients with cardiovascular disease.

Research questions:

How can usability of mobile health applications be evaluated in patients with cardiovascular disease? (Example: Germany)

Method:

Following scientific guidelines for translation and cross-cultural adaptation, the patient version for mobile health apps was forward and back-translated from English into German by an expert panel. In total, 53 participants who were recruited as part of the testing process of an app for cardiovascular disease prevention (HerzFit), answered the questions of the German version of the MAUQ (GER-MAUQ) and the System Usability Scale (SUS). Subsequently, a descriptive and psychometric analysis was performed to test validity and reliability.

Results:

Cronbach alpha for the entire questionnaire and the three subscales (0.966, 0.814, 0.910, and 0.909) indicated strong internal consistency. The correlation analysis showed that the scores of the GER-MAUQ, the subscales and the SUS were strongly correlated with each other.

Conclusions:

The GER-MAUQ allows a standardized assessment of usability of mobile health apps for patients with cardiovascular disease in Germany. Validated questionnaires for usability assessment of mobile health applications are necessary to effectively implement novel mobile health applications. When implementing or offering new tools for prevention and rehabilitation support reliable and effective evaluation of their usability is important. Provable usability can both support distribution of new tools in practice and accelerate implementation.

Points for discussion:

What are important characteristics of a digital tool to be prescribed or recommended by a general practitioner?

Can I use usability questionnaires for any patient cohort?

Comparison of approaches to handling of mobile health applications in general practice in different countries

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