MHAD

New app ratings are currently being conducted by various groups in the MHAD research network. The new ratings are created for apps from the following topics:

• Borderline
• Diabetes
• Insomnia
• Coronary heart disease
• Menopause
• Back pain
• Sex education
• Stress
• Suicidality
• Eating disorders
• Couples therapy

In addition, other apps on the topics of anxiety and depression are evaluated.

Recently, the article "Mobile Health App Database - A Repository for Quality Ratings of mHealth Apps" by Michael Stach and colleagues was published. The article was presented at this year's conference IEEE 33rd International Symposium on Computer Based Medical Systems (CBMS) and introduced the MHAD project, background and goals to an international audience of experts.

Link to the article: https://doi.org/10.1109/CBMS49503.2020.00087

Apps can be useful in the context of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Our new article (Lead: Dr. Lasse Sander) in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology describes potential uses and highlights risks and research gaps.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20008198.2019.1701788?scroll=top&needAccess=true

The article on the German version of the Mobile Application Ratings Scale (MARS-G) has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) mHealth and uHealth (open access, impact factor: 4.3). Thus, for the first time, a valid german-language scale for the assessment of app quality is freely available. We hope to contribute to the quality assurance of mHealth apps in Germany.

A scientific article on APPs for use in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by Dr. Lasse Sander and colleagues will soon be published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology. The article describes potential uses and identifies risks and research gaps.

The article "Insights - Anwendungsmöglichkeiten von passivem Smartphonetracking im therapeutischen Kontext" by Eva-Maria Messner and colleagues will appear in the "E-Health" issue of the journal "Verhaltenstherapie" in September. The article describes the possible use of smartphones to record behavioral data of people and to predict current state of mind from it.

Soon the following new topics will be activated for the app search:

• Mindfulness
• Chronic pain
• Apps for seniors
• Gastrointestinal complaints
• Posttraumatic stress disorder
• Anxiety apps for children
• Depression apps for children
• Oncology apps

The German version of the Mobile Applications Rating Scale (Stoyanov et al., 2015) is currently under review in the Journal of Medical Internet Research m and u health. The preprint can be viewed at https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/14479

Eva-Maria Messner's one-month research stay at the Queensland University of Technology was successfully completed with many new research ideas and joint projects. Ms. Messner got insight into a health care structure where internet and mobile based interventions are already implemented. Furthermore, in cooperation with Stoyan Stoyanov and David Kavanagh, an adaptation of the MARS (Mobile Application Ratings Scale) to health software is being worked on.

Out of 2231 detected apps for the promotion of physical activity, 160 were included in the present study. At the moment, the results are being prepared for publication.

Eva-Maria Rathner was granted a research stay for the period 1.3.-1.4.2019 in Brisbane in the team of Prof. Dr. David Kavanagh (https://research.qut.edu.au/aepr/). During this period, she will investigate an app for young people with alcohol abuse with regard to its usability and adapt an app for the visualization of therapeutic goals for the german-speaking world.

The article on the quality of german-language apps for the treatment of depression appeared in the journal "Verhaltenstherapie" (https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/481692).

Translation of MARS into German completed (1.05.2018)
The translation study of the Mobile Application Ratings Scale into German has been completed. Currently, the results are being prepared for publication.

The expert assessments of all apps available in Germany and the EU that can be used to treat anxiety have been completed. Work is currently underway to publish the results.

The translation study of the Mobile Application Ratings Scale into German has been completed. The results are currently being prepared for publication.

Eva-Maria Rathner was selected for a competition among young female scientists at the fifth ESRII conference in Dublin (https://www.esrii2018.org). She was able to present the database to an international scientific audience in five minutes.