Table 2.
Interactive app functions in the Self-Management Framework for Evaluating Interactive App Functions and their operational definitions.
| Interactive app function | Our operational definition |
| Monitoring of physical or health indicators | Functions that allow users to record and monitor their health or physical indicators (eg, body mass index, blood pressure) |
| Exercise and physical activity management | Functions that enable users to record and monitor their exercise and physical activities (eg, interactive pedometers) |
| Lifestyle management | Functions that enable users to record and monitor aspects of their lifestyles relevant to the prevention of, or coping with, CVDa (eg, monitoring of alcohol drinking) |
| Medication management | Functions that enable users to manage their medication (eg, when to take what medicine as prescribed) |
| Interaction with health care providers | Functions that enable the user to interact with HCPsb (eg, consultation via the app) |
| Condition management or prevention | Functions (other than medication management) that enable user input or interaction to control or prevent CVD (eg, hypertension self-detector) |
| Psychological health management | Functions that enable users to understand or manage their psychological health (eg, self-evaluation of psychological health) |
| Peer interaction | Functions that enable users to interact with other users with similar health conditions (eg, in-app peer support groups) |
| Family involvement | Functions that enable users to include family in their CVD self-management |
| Virtual rewards/gamification | Functions that provide motivational or gamification functions to encourage user commitment to their CVD self-management (eg, virtual rewards to encourage medication adherence) |
| Personal health records management | Functions that enable user input of their health-related data (eg, electronic health profiles) |
| Individualized care management | Functions that enable tailoring of prompts based on user input (eg, care recommendations tailored to users’ specific health conditions) |
| Multiple platform care management | Functions that enable users to connect their CVD care concerns across multiple platforms (eg, short message reminders sent from the app to other apps or electronic services such as email) |
| Online-offline integration | Functions that enable users to connect and integrate their online and offline self-management activities (eg, connecting the app with a blood glucose device to manage one’s blood sugar level) |
| Interaction with the app provider | Functions that enable users to communicate with, and receive feedback from, the app provider. Depending on the questions that users ask, this type of interaction could involve technical support (eg, questions about how to use the app) or medical issues (eg, CVD-specific questions). |
aCVD: cardiovascular disease.
bHPCs: health care providers.