Recruitment and retention in mobile application-based intervention studies: a critical synopsis of challenges and opportunities

• Published in: Informatics for health & social care Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 139 - 152
• Main Authors: Bremer, Whitney, Sarker, Abeed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 03.04.2023
• Subjects: health informatics; Humans; intervention studies; mHealth; Mobile application; Mobile Applications; Reproducibility of Results; Social Media; Telemedicine; mHealth; health informatics; Mobile application; intervention studies; social media
• ISSN: 1753-8157; 1753-8165; 1753-8165
• DOI: 10.1080/17538157.2022.2082297

Use of mobile health applications (mHealth apps) is becoming increasingly popular for the management of chronic illnesses, but mHealth-based intervention studies often have limitations associated with subject recruitment and retention. In this synopsis, we focus on targeted aspects of mHealth-based intervention studies, specifically: (i) subject recruitment, (ii) cohort sizes, and (iii) retention rates. We used the Google Scholar (meta-search) and Galileo search engines to identify sample articles focusing on mHealth apps and interventions published between 2010 and 2020 and selected 21 papers for detailed review. Most studies recruited relatively small cohorts (minimum: 20, maximum: 510). Retention rates had high variance with only five studies managing >80% subject retention throughout the study duration, 10.4% being the lowest. Eighty-five percent of the studies expressed concerns regarding study duration, app usage, and lack of proper implementation. The use of mHealth interventions generally yielded positive outcomes, but most studies discussed facing challenges associated with recruitment and retention. There is a clear need to identify strategies for recruiting larger cohorts and improving retention rates, and ultimately increasing the reliability of mHealth app-based intervention studies. We advise that potential underutilized opportunities lie at the intersection of mHealth and social media to address the limitations identified in the synopsis.