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As a doctor, I find that many of my patients and doctor colleagues have a challenging time finding the right healthcare app to fit their needs. There are many mobile apps available to help people manage their mental health and practice meditation and mindfulness. Many of them seem to have similar features and functions – how do you know what to trust?
We had the same question, so we asked our health experts to review the apps based on Doctorpedia’s comprehensive set of criteria, designed to fully encapsulate the quality of the app. These apps are rated on a scale of 1-10, where each aspect of the app has a separate rating. Categories that make up the total rating include Effectiveness, Functionality, Design, User-friendliness/Ease of use, and Credibility.
The Effectiveness category evaluates the effectiveness of the app; how well it does what it’s advertised to do.
The Functionality category evaluates the functions of the app; how many features it offers to the user.
The Design category evaluates the app’s design; how visually pleasing it is to the user.
The User-friendliness / Ease of use category evaluates how easy the app is to use; if it’s comprehensible or difficult to navigate.
The Credibility category evaluates the credibility of the app’s content; do its features have any scientific basis?
And finally, the Total Score category rates the app based on the combined rating of all the other categories.
As an example, we have rated mental health apps. Here are the scores for the top ranked app for mental health and mindfulness – Headspace:
In the chart above, you can see the scores for each of the apps arranged in order of their overall performance. Below the chart in the article, we give a more detailed overview of each of the apps, provide notes that each reviewer left, and provide you with links to download them if you’re interested in using them. Doctorpedia’s app reviews allow patients, doctors, and others to get trusted information on healthcare apps to improve health.
