Value of a quality label and European healthcare professionals’ willingness to recommend health apps: An experimental vignette study

• Published in: Journal of health psychology Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 1278 - 1290
• Main Authors: Biliunaite, Ieva, van Gestel, Laurens, Hoogendoorn, Petra, Adriaanse, Marieke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.05.2025; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adult; Attitude of Health Personnel; Europe; Female; Full-length Reports; Health care; Health Personnel - psychology; Humans; Male; Medical personnel; Middle Aged; Mobile Applications - standards; Selfmanagement; Selfmonitoring; Socioeconomic status; Willingness; Europe; e-health; health care systems; health behavior; recommending apps; healthcare professional; health apps; socioeconomic status
• ISSN: 1359-1053; 1461-7277; 1461-7277
• DOI: 10.1177/13591053241258205

This study aimed to evaluate healthcare professionals’ (HCPs’) willingness to recommend health apps presented with versus without the CEN-ISO/TS 82304-2 health app quality label. The study was an experimental vignette study describing 12 short hypothetical scenarios, with Label (absent vs present) as a between and Type of App (prevention vs self-monitoring vs healthcare) and Patient Socioeconomic Status (low vs high) as within-subjects factors. The main outcome measure was HCPs’ willingness to recommend apps. A total of 116 HCPs took part in the study. A significant main effect of the label was found. Further, HCPs were most willing to recommend self-management apps and more willing to recommend apps to high as opposed to low SES patients. However, the effect of the label did not differ between apps or according to patients’ SES. Results confirm that the quality label has potential for increasing willingness to changing HCPs’ recommendation behavior.