Development and quality evaluation of a mobile application for forward head posture among smartphone-addicted undergraduates: A cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Background: mHealth applications have gained popularity universally today and have made remote health-seeking to be available and affordable to the larger population, especially those in remote settings. This study developed and assessed the quality of a mobile app for preventing forward head posture in undergraduates addicted to smartphone use. Methods: The concept of forward head and isometric exercise following the standard process of design thinking and prototyping was used in building the CerviTech App. Three hundred and sixteen undergraduates (219 females and 97 males) addicted to smartphone use with a mean age of 20.70 ± 2.66 years were involved in this study. The outcome was assessed with the Mobile Application Rating Scale. Results: The overall objective and subjective app quality ratings were 3.68 ± 0.59 and 3.38 ± 0.79 out of 5 with functionality (3.87 ± 0.73) and engagement (3.52 ± 0.67) having the highest and the least rating on the app domains, respectively. Almost half, 142 (44.9%), of the participants rated the CerviTech App 4 stars. Two hundred and forty-four (77.2%) participants claimed that the CerviTech App targets physical health, 151 (47.8%), said it targets mindfulness/meditation/relaxation, while 136, (43.0%) claimed it increases happiness and well-being and 89 (28. 2%) said it will help in changing abnormal postural behaviour while using the smartphone. There were significant moderate correlations between app star rating and both objective (r = 0.53, P = 0.0001) and subjective (r = 0.56, P = 0.0001) app quality ratings. Conclusion: The CerviTech application is a mobile app with moderate-to-high-quality ratings and can serve as self-prevention and management of forward head posture in undergraduates addicted to smartphone use.

Keywords

• cross-sectional studies
• mobile application
• posture
• smartphone
• students