A preliminary evaluation of mobile phone apps to curb alcohol consumption

Omar Mubin, Billy Cai, Abdullah Al Mahmud, Isha Kharub, Michael Lwin, Aila Khan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Mobile apps have become increasingly prevalent in modern society, and persuasive technology has a broader market than ever. Mobile-based alcohol cessation apps can promote positive behaviour change in users and improve the overall health of our society. This research aimed to understand the various features users respond to and make design recommendations for alcohol cessation apps. This paper reports on three sources of feedback (user ratings, user reviews, MARS App Quality score) provided on 20 alcohol cessation apps in the Google Play Store. Our findings suggest that self-control type apps received much greater positive user reviews than motivational apps. In addition, this trend was not observed through numeric user ratings. We also speculate on design recommendations for apps that are meant to inhibit alcohol intake.
Original languageEnglish
Article number135
Number of pages11
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume19
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Open Access - Access Right Statement

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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