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Abstract
BackgroundCancer patients are increasingly using mobile health (mHealth) apps to take control of their health. Many studies have explored their efficiency, content, usability, and adherence; however, these apps have created a new set of privacy challenges, as they store personal and sensitive data.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to refine and evaluate a scale based on the General Data Protection Regulation and assess the fairness of privacy policies of mHealth apps.MethodsBased on the experience gained from our previous work, we redefined some of the items and scores of our privacy scale. Using the new version of our scale, we conducted a case study in which we analyzed the privacy policies of cancer Android apps. A systematic search of cancer mobile apps was performed in the Spanish version of the Google Play website.ResultsThe redefinition of certain items reduced discrepancies between reviewers. Thus, use of the scale was made easier, not only for the reviewers but also for any other potential users of our scale. Assessment of the privacy policies revealed that 29% (9/31) of the apps included in the study did not have a privacy policy, 32% (10/31) had a score over 50 out of a maximum of 100 points, and 39% (12/31) scored fewer than 50 points.ConclusionsIn this paper, we present a scale for the assessment of mHealth apps that is an improved version of our previous scale with adjusted scores. The results showed a lack of fairness in the mHealth app privacy policies that we examined, and the scale provides developers with a tool to evaluate their privacy policies.
Highlights
Privacy in Mobile Health AppsHealth care systems are putting a great emphasis on the role of the patient and encouraging people to take control of their health [1]
In this paper, we present a scale for the assessment of mobile health (mHealth) apps that is an improved version of our previous scale with adjusted scores
We introduce a novel scale based on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to assess the fairness of mHealth app privacy policies
Summary
Privacy in Mobile Health AppsHealth care systems are putting a great emphasis on the role of the patient and encouraging people to take control of their health [1]. Mobile health (mHealth) apps are one of the technological breakthroughs that make this possible. There are more than 3 billion smartphone users worldwide, and this number is predicted to grow by several 100 million in the few years [2]. This proliferation of smartphones has led to an increase in the availability and abundance of mHealth apps. In 2017, there were more than 300,000 mHealth apps, and this number tends to grow by 25% every year. Cancer patients are increasingly using mobile health (mHealth) apps to take control of their health. Many studies have explored their efficiency, content, usability, and adherence; these apps have created a new set of privacy challenges, as they store personal and sensitive data
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