Introduction to Squarespace

Martin, Sarah

doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-2937-8_1

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…A no-code mHealth research app development platform could enable researchers with no previous software programming skills to create apps through a graphical user interface (UI). Similarly to using no-code tools such as Squarespace to create websites [18], researchers could use a no-code mHealth design platform to create multiple versions of an app to evaluate their effectiveness in various conditions. Researchers could use drag and drop tools to select the required BCTs (eg, self-monitoring and goal setting tools) needed for a behavior change framework.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A “No-Code” App Design Platform for Mobile Health Research: Development and Usability Study

Liu¹,

La²,

Willms³

et al. 2022

JMIR Form Res

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Background A challenge facing researchers conducting mobile health (mHealth) research is the amount of resources required to develop mobile apps. This can be a barrier to generating relevant knowledge in a timely manner. The recent rise of “no-code” software development platforms may overcome this challenge and enable researchers to decrease the cost and time required to develop mHealth research apps. Objective We aimed to describe the development process and the lessons learned to build Pathverse, a no-code mHealth app design platform. Methods The study took place between November 2019 and December 2021. We used a participatory research framework to develop the mHealth app design platform. In phase 1, we worked with researchers to gather key platform feature requirements and conducted an exploratory literature search to determine needs related to this platform. In phase 2, we used an agile software framework (Scrum) to develop the platform. Each development sprint cycle was 4 weeks in length. We created a minimum viable product at the end of 7 sprint cycles. In phase 3, we used a convenience sample of adults (n=5) to gather user feedback through usability and acceptability testing. In phase 4, we further developed the platform based on user feedback, following the V-model software development process. Results Our team consulted end users (ie, researchers) and utilized behavior change technique taxonomy and behavior change models (ie, the multi-process action control framework) to guide the development of features. The first version of the Pathverse platform included features that allowed researchers to (1) design customized multimedia app content (eg, interactive lessons), (2) set content delivery logic (eg, only show new lessons when completing the previous lesson), (3) implement customized participant surveys, (4) provide self-monitoring tools, (5) set personalized goals, and (6) customize app notifications. Usability and acceptability testing revealed that researchers found the platform easy to navigate and that the features were intuitive to use. Potential improvements include the ability to deliver adaptive interventions and add features such as community group chat. Conclusions To our knowledge, Pathverse is the first no-code mHealth app design platform for developing mHealth interventions for behavior. We successfully used behavior change models and the behavior change technique taxonomy to inform the feature requirements of Pathverse. Overall, the use of a participatory framework, combined with the agile and hybrid-agile software development process, enabled our team to successfully develop the Pathverse platform.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%