The WEB-RADR Work Package 3B team has published their findings from a qualitative study investigating the factors influencing the use of a mobile app for two-way risk communication. The results of the study will be of interest to pharmacovigilance experts, and app researchers and developers and will be used to improve WEB-RADR’s mobile apps.
The ‘Factors Influencing the Use of a Mobile App for Reporting Adverse Drug Reactions and Receiving Safety Information: A Qualitative Study’ publication is in Drug Safety can be found here.
Key points (as highlighted in the article):
- Factors influencing the use of an app for two-way risk communication concern what feedback would be given on adverse drug reaction reports and how safely these are stored and handled; what type of news, if any, would be provided through the app; other functions of the app; ease of use; the source (authority) behind the app; appropriate language and appeal of the app; and costs.
- User characteristics (e.g. age, education, experience with apps) may moderate to what extent specific factors (e.g. functions, security) influence use of the app.
- When designing or improving an app for two-way risk communication, pharmacovigilance experts, and app researchers and developers should consider the identified factors.
Ongoing research focuses on the quantification of the influencing factors and on associations between user characteristics and the direction of the influencing factors.