The DOI matches its Crossref record; 41 of the 41 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
“There’s a Pain App for That”: Review of Patient-targeted Smartphone Applications for Pain Management
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: There are a growing number of pain self-management applications (apps) available for users to download on personal smartphones. The purpose of this study was to critically appraise the content and self-management functionality of currently available pain apps. METHODS: An electronic search was conducted between May and June 2014 of the official stores for the 4 major operating systems. Two authors independently identified patient-focused apps with a stated goal of pain management. Discrepancies regarding selection were resolved through discussion with a third party. Metadata from all included apps were abstracted into a standard form. The content and functionality of each app as it pertained to pain self-management was rated. RESULTS: A total of 279 apps met the inclusion criteria. Pain self-care skill support was the most common self-management function (77.4%). Apps also purported providing patients with the ability to engage in pain education (45.9%), self-monitoring (19%), social support (3.6%), and goal-setting (0.72%). No apps were comprehensive in terms of pain self-management, with the majority of apps including only a single self-management function (58.5%). In addition, only 8.2% of apps included a health care professional in their development, not a single app provided a theoretical rationale, and only 1 app underwent scientific evaluation. DISCUSSION: Currently available pain self-management apps for patients are simplistic, lack the involvement of health care professionals in their development, and have not been rigorously tested for effectiveness on pain-related health outcomes. There is a need to develop and test theoretically and evidence-based apps to better support patients with accessible pain care self-management.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Overall, the findings show that the majority of available applications do not follow evidence-based guidelines, do not involve health care providers or experts in the development process, and have not undergone any scientific studies of effect and/or validity.”
From ACTsmart: Guided Smartphone-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Chronic Pain—A Pilot Trial. (2021) · cites this paper as [32]
In the citing paper
“One significant challenge is the lack of guidance and involvement of health care providers and intended users in the development process [21,27,32-37].”
From A User-Centered Approach to an Evidence-Based Electronic Health Pain Management Intervention for People With Chronic Pain: Design and Development of EPIO (2020) · cites this paper as [34]
In the citing paper
“The process combining evidence-based and user-centered approaches is a previously recommended but underutilized approach to eHealth intervention development [27,33,34].”
From A User-Centered Approach to an Evidence-Based Electronic Health Pain Management Intervention for People With Chronic Pain: Design and Development of EPIO (2020) · cites this paper as [34]
In the citing paper
“The lack of user involvement (ie, patients and health care providers) and human centeredness in development of eHealth interventions have been criticized repeatedly [5,21,27,32,34,36,39], and this lack of user involvement in the development process can potentially also explain the high attrition rates and low adherence associated with such interventions [32,40-42].”
From A User-Centered Approach to an Evidence-Based Electronic Health Pain Management Intervention for People With Chronic Pain: Design and Development of EPIO (2020) · cites this paper as [34]
In the citing paper
“Despite these facts, the development of evidence-based eHealth pain management interventions has been limited [33-35], as has the incorporation of user involvement in these processes.”
From A User-Centered Approach to an Evidence-Based Electronic Health Pain Management Intervention for People With Chronic Pain: Design and Development of EPIO (2020) · cites this paper as [34]
Citations
Cites
The McGill Pain Questionnaire: Major properties and scoring methods
Melzack, R. (1975) · Pain · doi:10.1016/0304-3959(75)90044-5 · Cited by 6,873
Self-management approaches for people with chronic conditions: a review
Barlow, J., Wright, C., Sheasby, J., Turner, A., & Hainsworth, J. (2002) · Patient Education and Counseling · doi:10.1016/s0738-3991(02)00032-0 · Cited by 2,800
Psychological therapies for the management of chronic pain (excluding headache) in adults
Williams, A. C. D. C., Eccleston, C., & Morley, S. (2012) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd007407.pub3 · Cited by 1,634
Peer support within a health care context: a concept analysis
Dennis, C. (2003) · International Journal of Nursing Studies · doi:10.1016/s0020-7489(02)00092-5 · Cited by 1,293
Effectiveness of telemedicine: A systematic review of reviews
Ekeland, A. G., Bowes, A., & Flottorp, S. (2010) · International Journal of Medical Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2010.08.006 · Cited by 1,162
Healthcare via Cell Phones: A Systematic Review
Krishna, S., Boren, S. A., & Balas, E. A. (2009) · Telemedicine and e-Health · doi:10.1089/tmj.2008.0099 · Cited by 882
Griffiths, F., Lindenmeyer, A., Powell, J., Lowe, P., & Thorogood, M. (2006) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.8.2.e10 · Cited by 820
Writing SMART rehabilitation goals and achieving goal attainment scaling: a practical guide
Bovend'Eerdt, T. J., Botell, R. E., & Wade, D. T. (2009) · Clinical Rehabilitation · doi:10.1177/0269215508101741 · Cited by 754
Systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological therapies for children with chronic pain
Fisher, E., Heathcote, L., Palermo, T. M., de C Williams, A. C., Lau, J., & Eccleston, C. (2014) · Journal of Pediatric Psychology · doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsu008 · Cited by 710
The severity of chronic pediatric pain: an epidemiological study
Huguet, A., & Miró, J. (2008) · The Journal of Pain · doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2007.10.015 · Cited by 600
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Eccleston, 2012, Williams A deC, et al.. Psychological therapies for the management of chronic and recurrent pain in children and adolescents., Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 12, CD003968
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Birnie, K. A., Hundert, A. S., Lalloo, C., Nguyen, C., & Stinson, J. (2018) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001377 · Cited by 358
The Most Popular Smartphone Apps for Weight Loss: A Quality Assessment
Chen, J., Cade, J. E., & Allman-Farinelli, M. (2015) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.4334 · Cited by 219
“A range of frameworks have been used to evaluate the quality of apps in a variety of medical and health promotion areas, such as cancer [14-16], diabetes [17,18], smoking [19-21], mental health [22-24], headaches [25], cardiology [26], alcohol [27,28], HIV [29], and pain management [30,31].”
BackgroundMobile Apps for Weight Management: A Scoping Review
Rivera, J., McPherson, A., Hamilton, J., Birken, C., Coons, M., Iyer, S., Agarwal, A., Lalloo, C., & Stinson, J. (2016) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.5115 · Cited by 169
“The search methods used in this review were modeled after those previously conducted in this area [11,18-21] and in the management of other chronic diseases [22].”
MethodSelf-citationBenefits of mobile apps in pain management: Systematic review
Thurnheer, S. E., Gravestock, I., Pichierri, G., Steurer, J., & Burgstaller, J. M. (2018) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/11231 · Cited by 160
“The reviews show that many of the commercially available apps lack usability and have other limitations, such as absence of rigorous scientific evaluation of the provided content and the recommendations given to patients [10-17].”
BackgroundChallenges in Assessing Mobile Health App Quality
Grundy, Q. H., Wang, Z., & Bero, L. A. (2016) · American Journal of Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2016.07.009 · Cited by 154
Pediatric Pain Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation
Manworren, R. C. B., & Stinson, J. (2016) · Seminars in Pediatric Neurology · doi:10.1016/j.spen.2016.10.001 · Cited by 158
Scott, I. A., Scuffham, P., Gupta, D., Harch, T. M., Borchi, J., & Richards, B. (2018) · Australian Health Review · doi:10.1071/ah18064 · Cited by 129
Devan, H., Farmery, D., Peebles, L., & Grainger, R. (2019) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/13080 · Cited by 115
Biopsychosocial Approach to Assessing and Managing Patients with Chronic Pain
Cheatle, M. D. (2015) · Medical Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.mcna.2015.08.007 · Cited by 115
“2% of the apps included a health care provider in their development and only one app was subjected to a scientific evaluation.(52)”
BackgroundPfeifer, A.-C., Uddin, R., Schröder‐Pfeifer, P., Holl, F., Swoboda, W. J., & Schiltenwolf, M. (2020) · Journal of Clinical Medicine · doi:10.3390/jcm9113557 · Cited by 108
Jibb, L., Cafazzo, J. A., Nathan, P. C., Seto, E., Stevens, B., Nguyen, C., & Stinson, J. (2017) · Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing · doi:10.1177/1043454217697022 · Cited by 107
Stinson, J., Jibb, L., Nguyen, C., Nathan, P. C., Maloney, A. M., Dupuis, L. L., Gerstle, J. T., Hopyan, S., Alman, B. A., Strahlendorf, C., et al. (2015) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000385 · Cited by 97
“Specifically, targeted conditions include alcoholism, diabetes, pain, and posttraumatic stress disorder.(8,10,19,28,29) Because the field of app-based health assessment and management is burgeoning, the number of rigorous examinations of the effect of smartphone app interventions on patient, provider, and system outco…”
BackgroundSvendsen, M. J., Wood, K., Kyle, J., Cooper, K., Rasmussen, C. D. N., Sandal, L. F., Stochkendahl, M. J., Mair, F. S., & Nicholl, B. I. (2020) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038800 · Cited by 99
A review of mobile applications to help adolescent and young adult cancer patients
Wesley, K. M., & Fizur, P. J. (2015) · Adolescent Health Medicine and Therapeutics · doi:10.2147/ahmt.s69209 · Cited by 91
“cations available to consumers, though these applications had not been thoroughly tested or empirically supported.(22) These authors noted the importance of carefully reviewing these applications and involving medical providers in the development of these tools.”
Ledel Solem, I. K., Varsi, C., Eide, H., Kristjansdottir, O. B., Børøsund, E., Schreurs, K. M. G., Waxenberg, L. B., Weiss, K. E., Morrison, E. J., Haaland-Øverby, M., et al. (2020) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/15889 · Cited by 80
“The process combining evidence-based and user-centered approaches is a previously recommended but underutilized approach to eHealth intervention development [27,33,34].”
BackgroundMethodMobile applications for pain management: an app analysis for clinical usage
Zhao, P., Yoo, I., Lancey, R., & Varghese, E. (2019) · BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making · doi:10.1186/s12911-019-0827-7 · Cited by 93
Patients’ Needs and Requirements for eHealth Pain Management Interventions: Qualitative Study
Ledel Solem, I. K., Varsi, C., Eide, H., Kristjansdottir, O. B., Mirkovic, J., Børøsund, E., Haaland-Øverby, M., Heldal, K., Schreurs, K. M., Waxenberg, L. B., et al. (2019) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/13205 · Cited by 80
“In addition, few eHealth interventions are developed by, or in collaboration with, health care professionals [12,23,24].”
BackgroundInfluentialCommercially Available Smartphone Apps to Support Postoperative Pain Self-Management: Scoping Review
Lalloo, C., Shah, U. J., Birnie, K. A., Davies-Chalmers, C., Rivera, J., Stinson, J., & Campbell, F. A. (2017) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.8230 · Cited by 89
“Due to the geographic search restrictions of the online app stores, this limitation also applies to other published app reviews (eg, Rosser and Eccleston [13] and Reynoldson et al [14] focused on the United Kingdom; Lalloo et al [15] focused on Canada).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialGatchel, R. J., Reuben, D. B., Dagenais, S., Turk, D. C., Chou, R., Hershey, A. D., Hicks, G. E., Licciardone, J. C., & Horn, S. D. (2018) · Journal of Pain · doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2018.02.015 · Cited by 93
Slater, H., Dear, B. F., Merolli, M. A., Li, L. C., & Briggs, A. M. (2016) · Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology · doi:10.1016/j.berh.2016.08.006 · Cited by 88
Chambers, C. T. (2018) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001327 · Cited by 91
Vugts, M. A. P., Joosen, M. C. W., van der Geer, J. E., Zedlitz, A. M. E. E., & Vrijhoef, H. J. M. (2018) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0196467 · Cited by 85
“, the degree to which e-health trials resemble routine applications) [14, 15, 41, 42].”
Jamison, R. N., Jurcik, D. C., Edwards, R. R., Huang, C.-C., & Ross, E. L. (2017) · The Clinical Journal of Pain · doi:10.1097/ajp.0000000000000455 · Cited by 83
Treatment of Low Back Pain with a Digital Multidisciplinary Pain Treatment App: Short-Term Results
Huber, S., Priebe, J. A., Baumann, K.-M., Plidschun, A., Schießl, C., & Tölle, T. R. (2017) · JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies · doi:10.2196/rehab.9032 · Cited by 79
“Recent appraisals of commercially available apps revealed that the vast majority of apps available in app stores are not based on a scientific framework [13].”
BackgroundCai, R. A., Beste, D., Chaplin, H., Varakliotis, S., Suffield, L., Josephs, F., Sen, D., Wedderburn, L. R., Ioannou, Y., Hailes, S. M. V., et al. (2017) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.7229 · Cited by 80
“However, recent systematic reviews of the literature exploring the effectiveness of mobile apps designed to support the management of chronic physical conditions by YP [44-46] found a limited number of apps in the scientific database.”
BackgroundIntegration of Mobile Health Technology in the Treatment of Chronic Pain: A Critical Review
Sundararaman, L. V., Edwards, R. R., Ross, E. L., & Jamison, R. N. (2017) · Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine · doi:10.1097/aap.0000000000000621 · Cited by 72
“In another review article, 224 pain apps were evaluated, and the authors concluded that there was little involvement by health care professionals in those apps.(70) The authors determined that approximately 80% of them incorporated self-management strategies, 60% involved education, and 14% involved both self-manageme…”
BackgroundYang, J., Weng, L., Chen, Z., Cai, H., Lin, X., Hu, Z., Li, N., Lin, B., Zheng, B., Zhuang, Q., et al. (2019) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/12542 · Cited by 80
“In a review of 279 pain-related apps, only one app was found to have undergone scientific evaluation [13].”
Schultchen, D., Terhorst, Y., Holderied, T., Stach, M., Meßner, E.-M., Baumeister, H., & Sander, L. (2020) · International Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12529-020-09944-y · Cited by 79
Moshi, M. R., Tooher, R. L., & Merlin, T. (2018) · International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care · doi:10.1017/s026646231800051x · Cited by 74
“Six (13 percent) frameworks assessed how the MMA provides social support to the users (15;17;28;29;37;47), for example, whether the MMA provides psychosocial support, if the MMA can provide support through social media, or if access to social support is facilitated.”
BackgroundSuso-Ribera, C., Castilla, D., Zaragozá, I., Ribera-Canudas, M. V., Botella, C., & García-Palacios, A. (2018) · The Clinical Journal of Pain · doi:10.1097/ajp.0000000000000618 · Cited by 73
Ross, E. L., Jamison, R. N., Nicholls, L., Perry, B. M., & Nolen, K. D. (2020) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/16939 · Cited by 62
Atee, M., Hoti, K., & Hughes, J. (2018) · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnagi.2018.00117 · Cited by 74
“A primary deficiency in the development of majority of the health related apps is the fact that they are designed by nonhealth care practitioners (Lalloo et al., 2015).”
BackgroundAssessment and Measurement of Pain in Adults in Later Life
Booker, S. Q., & Herr, K. (2016) · Clinics in Geriatric Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.cger.2016.06.012 · Cited by 70
Health and Fitness Apps for Hands-Free Voice-Activated Assistants: Content Analysis
Chung, A. E., Griffin, A. C., Selezneva, D., & Gotz, D. (2018) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.9705 · Cited by 70
“Traditionally, the development of health mobile phone apps has lacked stakeholder involvement [17,18,26], which has contributed to high rates of app abandonment due to lack of usability and poor user experience.”
BackgroundMethodBenefits of Mobile Apps for Cancer Pain Management: Systematic Review
Zheng, C., Chen, X., Weng, L., Guo, L., Xu, H., Lin, M., Xue, Y., Lin, X., Yang, A., Yu, L., et al. (2020) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/17055 · Cited by 69
“In published systematic reviews, the evaluation of the effects of apps focus on other chronic pain [6,13,33,34] or explore the impact of an app on quality of life and other symptoms for a single cancer type.”
BackgroundMork, P. J., & Bach, K. (2018) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/resprot.9379 · Cited by 69
“Recent reviews have shown that nearly 300 pain-related mobile phone apps are available [20-23]; however, few of these apps have been developed with evidence-based content and not have they been rigorously tested for effectiveness on pain-related health outcomes [20-23].”
Jamison, R. N., Mei, A., & Ross, E. L. (2018) · Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare · doi:10.1177/1357633x16679049 · Cited by 57
Pain neuroscience education on YouTube
Heathcote, L. C., Pate, J. W., Park, A. L., Leake, H. B., Moseley, G. L., Kronman, C. A., Fischer, M. D., Timmers, I., & Simons, L. E. (2019) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.6603 · Cited by 66
“Other studies have reviewed the availability of smartphone applications for pain management (Lalloo et al., 2015), finding that the most common content is pain selfcare and, importantly, that most applications lack involvement of health care professionals in their development.”
BackgroundHiggins, K. S., Tutelman, P. R., Chambers, C. T., Witteman, H. O., Barwick, M. A., Corkum, P. V., Grant, D., Stinson, J., Lalloo, C., Robins, S., et al. (2018) · PAIN Reports · doi:10.1097/pr9.0000000000000686 · Cited by 63
Smartphone apps to help children and adolescents with cancer and their families: a scoping review
Mehdizadeh, H., Asadi, F., Mehrvar, A., Nazemi, E., & Emami, H. (2019) · Acta Oncologica · doi:10.1080/0284186x.2019.1588474 · Cited by 65
“These results were similar to those reported by Collado-Borrell et al. [66], Barlow et al. [42], and Lalloo et al. (2015) [43].”
BackgroundResultInfluentialBlödt, S., Pach, D., von Eisenhart-Rothe, S., Lotz, F., Roll, S., Icke, K., & Witt, C. M. (2017) · American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2017.11.570 · Cited by 61
Information Quality Challenges of Patient-Generated Data in Clinical Practice
West, P. A., Kleek, M. G. V., Giordano, R., Weal, M. J., & Shadbolt, N. (2017) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00284 · Cited by 57
“Self-tracking tools produce data which are new and unfamiliar to clinicians, and are seldom clinically validated (21).”
BackgroundInfluentialBarber, T., Sharif, B., Teare, S., Miller, J., Shewchuk, B., Green, L. A., Marlett, N. J., Cibere, J., Mrklas, K., Wasylak, T., et al. (2019) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024016 · Cited by 55
Quality and Usability of Arthritic Pain Self-Management Apps for Older Adults: A Systematic Review
Vandersman, P., Newton-John, T. R. O., & Phillips, J. L. (2017) · Pain Medicine · doi:10.1093/pm/pnx090 · Cited by 52
Patel, S., Goldsack, J. C., Cordovano, G., Downing, A., Fields, K. K., Geoghegan, C., Grewal, U., Nieva, J. J., Patel, N. R., Rollison, D. E. M., et al. (2023) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/43404 · Cited by 53
Supporting the Self-Management of Chronic Pain Conditions with Tailored Momentary Self-Assessments
Adams, P., Murnane, E. L., Elfenbein, M., Wethington, E., & Gay, G. K. (2017) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3025453.3025832 · Cited by 52
“However, the number of randomized controlled trials conducted on these apps is relatively small, and more thorough evaluation is still necessary [18, 47, 58].”
BackgroundSmartphone apps for menstrual pain and symptom management: a scoping review
Trépanier, L. C. M., Lamoureux, É., Bjornson, S. E., Mackie, C., Alberts, N. M., & Gagnon, M. M. (2023) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2023.100605 · Cited by 50
Varsi, C., Ledel Solem, I. K., Eide, H., Børøsund, E., Kristjansdottir, O. B., Heldal, K., Waxenberg, L. B., Weiss, K. E., Schreurs, K. M. G., Morrison, E. J., et al. (2021) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/s12913-021-06278-7 · Cited by 53
An mHealth App for Self-Management of Chronic Lower Back Pain (Limbr): Pilot Study
Selter, A., Tsangouri, C., Ali, S. B., Freed, D., Vatchinsky, A., Kizer, J., Sahuguet, A., Vojta, D. D., Vad, V. B., Pollak, J., et al. (2018) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.8256 · Cited by 52
“In particular, many currently available mobile phone apps targeted at low back pain (LBP) management are low in quality, offering content that is not based on current research and has not been reviewed or tested by health care providers [20,21].”
BackgroundBirnie, K. A., Campbell, F. A., Nguyen, C., Lalloo, C., Tsimicalis, A., Matava, C. T., Cafazzo, J. A., & Stinson, J. (2019) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/12028 · Cited by 51
“This evidence suggests that currently available apps for postoperative pain are likely to perpetuate poor uptake and unclear effectiveness of apps for pain despite increasing interest [21-23].”
BackgroundDigital Technology and Mobile Health in Behavioral Migraine Therapy: a Narrative Review
Stubberud, A., & Linde, M. (2018) · Current Pain and Headache Reports · doi:10.1007/s11916-018-0718-0 · Cited by 50
Adams, A. T., Murnane, E. L., Adams, P., Elfenbein, M., Chang, P. F., Sannon, S., Gay, G. K., & Choudhury, T. (2018) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3173574.3174076 · Cited by 48
“A number of commercial pain assessment apps are available as well [57], although while some are designed in an evidencebased way, they largely remain unevaluated [17, 42].”
BackgroundSmartphone applications for chronic pain management: A critical appraisal
Alexander, J., & Joshi, G. (2016) · Journal of Pain Research · doi:10.2147/jpr.s119966 · Cited by 47
“13 14–16 The conclusions of the authors are remarkably similar over time.”
Rahman, Q. A., Janmohamed, T., Pirbaglou, M., Ritvo, P., Heffernan, J. M., Clarke, H. A., & Katz, J. D. (2017) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.7871 · Cited by 46
“Several recent reviews have highlighted the many commercially available pain-related apps that can be downloaded from online app stores by people with chronic pain [8-11].”
BackgroundLalloo, C., Harris, L., Hundert, A. S., Berard, R. A., Cafazzo, J. A., Connelly, M. A., Feldman, B. M., Houghton, K. M., Huber, A. M., Laxer, R. M., et al. (2020) · Lara D. Veeken · doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keaa178 · Cited by 46
Systematic evaluation of content and quality of English and German pain apps in European app stores
Terhorst, Y., Meßner, E.-M., Schultchen, D., Paganini, S., Portenhauser, A. A., Eder, A.-S., Bauer, M., Papenhoff, M. C., Baumeister, H., & Sander, L. (2021) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2021.100376 · Cited by 42
Yu, J., Kuhn, E. R., Miller, K. E., & Taylor, K. L. (2018) · Translational Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1093/tbm/iby014 · Cited by 43
Lalloo, C., Hundert, A. S., Harris, L., Phạm, Q., Campbell, F. A., Chorney, J. M. L., Dick, B. D., Simmonds, M. K., Cafazzo, J. A., & Stinson, J. (2019) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/11838 · Cited by 41
“In phase 1B, a scoping review was completed to identify and characterize publicly available “pain apps” [8].”
BackgroundDigital Pain Mapping and Tracking in Patients With Chronic Pain: Longitudinal Study
Villa, M. G., Palsson, T. S., Royo, A. C., Bjarkam, C. R., & Boudreau, S. A. (2020) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/21475 · Cited by 40
“A good compliance rate ensures that the requested information is collected [33-38].”
BackgroundThe Power of Visualization: Back to the Future for Pain Management in Fibromyalgia Syndrome
Molinari, G., García‐Palacios, A., Enrique, Á., Roca, P., Comella, N. F.-L., & Botella, C. (2017) · Pain Medicine · doi:10.1093/pm/pnx298 · Cited by 38
Translating e-pain research into patient care
McGuire, B. E., Henderson, E. M., & McGrath, P. J. (2017) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000686 · Cited by 39
Leveraging Multi-Modal Sensing for Mobile Health: A Case Review in Chronic Pain
Aung, M. H., Alquaddoomi, F., Hsieh, C.-K., Rabbi, M., Yang, L., Pollak, J., Estrin, D. L., & Choudhury, T. (2016) · IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing · doi:10.1109/jstsp.2016.2565381 · Cited by 38
Gamwell, K. L., Kollin, S. R., Gibler, R. C., Bedree, H., Bieniak, K. H., Jagpal, A., Tran, S. T., Hommel, K. A., & Ramsey, R. R. (2020) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002090 · Cited by 36
“” Pain management BCTs include (1) behavior-health link, which provides psychoeducation regarding the relationship between a specific behavior and the user’s health; (2) consequences, or psychoeducation, which informs the user of the consequences likely to occur if the targeted health behavior change is made or not; (…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialMacPherson, M., Bakker, A. M., Anderson, K., & Holtzman, S. (2022) · Canadian Journal of Pain · doi:10.1080/24740527.2022.2030212 · Cited by 36
mHealth for pediatric chronic pain: state of the art and future directions
Richardson, P. A., Harrison, L. E., Heathcote, L. C., Rush, G. Q., Shear, D., Lalloo, C., Hood, K. K., Wicksell, R. K., Stinson, J., & Simons, L. E. (2020) · Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics · doi:10.1080/14737175.2020.1819792 · Cited by 37
Lalloo, C., Kumbhare, D. A., Stinson, J., & Henry, J. L. (2014) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.3292 · Cited by 34
“A more recent scoping review, conducted in 2013, identified 224 pain apps, of which 14% allowed users to self-track their symptoms [44].”
MethodGrasaas, E., Fegran, L., Helseth, S., Stinson, J., Martinez, S., Lalloo, C., & Haraldstad, K. (2019) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/12940 · Cited by 35
“For instance, Lalloo et al [20] found a total of 279 apps that focused on pain self-management; only 8% of these had included health care professionals during their development and only 1 had undergone scientific evaluation.”
BackgroundBedson, J., Hill, J., White, D., Chen, Y., Wathall, S., Dent, S., Cooke, K., & van der Windt, D. (2019) · BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making · doi:10.1186/s12911-019-0741-z · Cited by 31
Lima, L. D. O., Saragiotto, B. T., Costa, L. O. P., Nogueira, L. A. C., Meziat‐Filho, N., & dos Reis, F. J. J. (2021) · Physical Therapy · doi:10.1093/ptj/pzab167 · Cited by 37
Pain relief in the palm of your hand: Harnessing mobile health to manage pediatric pain
Hunter, J. F., Kain, Z. N., & Fortier, M. A. (2018) · Pediatric Anesthesia · doi:10.1111/pan.13547 · Cited by 33
“A recent review found that the vast majority of currently available pain applications do not have strong theoretical foundations, have not been empirically tested, have no input from healthcare professionals or users, and do not incorporate comprehensive pain management components.(42) Furthermore, a significant gap e…”
BackgroundA Biofeedback App for Migraine: Development and Usability Study
Ingvaldsen, S. H., Tronvik, E., Brenner, E., Winnberg, I. G., Olsen, A., Gravdahl, G. B., & Stubberud, A. (2021) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/23229 · Cited by 31
“Lalloo and colleagues [16] found that only 8.”
BackgroundRosser, B. A., Fisher, E., Janjua, S., Eccleston, C., Keogh, E., & Duggan, G. B. (2023) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd013863.pub2 · Cited by 31
Shah, U. E. M., & Chiew, T. K. (2019) · Symmetry · doi:10.3390/sym11030400 · Cited by 31
Turnbull, A., Sculley, D., Escalona‐Marfil, C., Gispert, L. M. R., Ruíz-Moreno, J., Gironès, X., & Coda, A. (2020) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/18284 · Cited by 31
“At present, there are limited approaches available that combine evidence-based practice with health apps [40].”
BackgroundMartin, C. L., Bakker, C., Breth, M. S., Gao, G., Lee, K., Lee, M. A., Tiase, V. L., Tunby, L. J., Wyatt, T. H., & Janeway, L. M. (2020) · Research in Nursing & Health · doi:10.1002/nur.22097 · Cited by 31
Pham, Q., Graham, G., Lalloo, C., Morita, P. P., Seto, E., Stinson, J. N., & Cafazzo, J. A. (2018) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/11447 · Cited by 30
“This trend is particularly evident within the field of pediatrics, where recent reviews have revealed a paucity of evidence-based apps for young people across chronic conditions [2-4].”
Self-citationPatient involvement and institutional logics: A discussion paper
Beedholm, K., & Frederiksen, K. (2018) · Nursing Philosophy · doi:10.1111/nup.12234 · Cited by 30
Stoppok, P., Teufel, M., Jahre, L. M., Rometsch, C., Müßgens, D., Bingel, U., Skoda, E., & Bäuerle, A. (2022) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/37682 · Cited by 28
“None of the apps offered self-management options [32].”
BackgroundDevan, H., Godfrey, H., Perry, M., Hempel, D., Saipe, B., Hale, L., & Grainger, R. (2019) · Journal of Pain Research · doi:10.2147/jpr.s206539 · Cited by 26
“Similarly, a comprehensive review of smartphone apps for pain self-management identified no available comprehensive app that met core self-management skills.(29) Importantly, only 8% (22/279) of the identified apps had some form of health care providers’ input.”
BackgroundGentili, C., Zetterqvist, V., Rickardsson, J., Holmström, L., Simons, L. E., & Wicksell, R. K. (2020) · npj Digital Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41746-020-0228-4 · Cited by 24
User-Centric Design Methodology for mHealth Apps: The PainApp Paradigm for Chronic Pain
Koumpouros, Y. (2022) · Technologies · doi:10.3390/technologies10010025 · Cited by 27
“An increasing number of applications appear every day targeting the management, tracking and assessment of pain, providing a variety of features [12].”
BackgroundSulaiman, S. K., Wong, A. Y. L., Li, L. L., Antwi‐Afari, M. F., Ou, H., & Tsang, H. W. H. (2022) · International Journal of Medical Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2022.104937 · Cited by 26
Mobile App Tools for Identifying and Managing Mental Health Disorders in Primary Care
Magee, J. C., Adut, S., Brazill, K., & Warnick, S. (2018) · Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s40501-018-0154-0 · Cited by 25
Vandersman, P., Newton-John, T. R. O., & Phillips, J. L. (2020) · Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics · doi:10.1016/j.archger.2020.104062 · Cited by 27
The Integration of Technology into Treatment Programs to Aid in the Reduction of Chronic Pain
Eckard, C., Asbury, C., Bolduc, B., Camerlengo, C., Gotthardt, J., healy, L., Waialae, L., Zeigler, C., Childers, J., & Horzempa, J. (2016) · Journal of Pain Management & Medicine · doi:10.35248/2684-1320.16.2.118 · Cited by 25
“Incorporation of internet and smart-phone based tools will make pain management more accessible to the patient [24].”
BackgroundLeBaron, V. T., Hayes, J., Gordon, K., Alam, R., Homdee, N., Martinez, Y., Ogunjirin, E., Thomas, T. D., Jones, R. A., Blackhall, L. J., et al. (2019) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/16178 · Cited by 25
“(2) Most Smart Health interventions rely on apps that live on people’s smartphones [58-60].”
Biofeedback Treatment App for Pediatric Migraine: Development and Usability Study
Stubberud, A., Tronvik, E., Olsen, A., Gravdahl, G. B., & Linde, M. (2020) · Headache The Journal of Head and Face Pain · doi:10.1111/head.13772 · Cited by 25
“Recent research suggests that behavioral mHealth interventions for headache are feasible, but development processes and usability testing remain insufficient.(10) Additionally, efficacy measures are uncertain.”
BackgroundMethodLawitschka, Á., Bührer, S., Bauer, D., Peters, K., Silbernagl, M., Zubarovskaya, N., Brunmair, B., Kayali, F., Hlavacs, H., Mateus‐Berr, R., et al. (2020) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/18781 · Cited by 24
“Medical professionals are rarely included in the development of health-related software [13].”
BackgroundGentili, C., Zetterqvist, V., Rickardsson, J., Holmström, L., Simons, L. E., & Wicksell, R. K. (2021) · Pain Medicine · doi:10.1093/pm/pnaa360 · Cited by 20
Emerging Mobile Platforms to Aid in Stone Management
Small, A., Thorogood, S. L., Shah, O. D., & Healy, K. A. (2019) · Urologic Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.ucl.2018.12.010 · Cited by 23
Dunsmuir, D. T., Wu, H., Sun, T., West, N., LAUDER, G. R., Görges, M., & Ansermino, J. M. (2019) · JMIR Perioperative Medicine · doi:10.2196/12305 · Cited by 23
“A recent review of commercially available mobile phone apps for postoperative pain management demonstrated a lack of evidence-based content [14], and few were designed for use in children.”
BackgroundFritsch, C. G., Ferreira, P. H., Prior, J., McLachlan, A. J., & Ferreira, M. L. (2020) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001958 · Cited by 23
“This issue has also been observed in the development of smartphone applications for chronic pain.(33) Although previous systematic reviews found that the theoretical framework did not positively impact messages’ effect(22) or may even cause a negative impact(2) on health promotion, their role in text message intervent…”
BackgroundJibb, L., Nathan, P. C., Breakey, V. R., Fernandez, C. V., Johnston, D. L., Lewis, V. A., McKillop, S. J., Patel, S., Sabapathy, C. A., Strahlendorf, C., et al. (2020) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037251 · Cited by 23
Devan, H., Perry, M., van Hattem, A., Thurlow, G. R., Shepherd, S., Muchemwa, C., & Grainger, R. (2019) · Patient Education and Counseling · doi:10.1016/j.pec.2019.04.009 · Cited by 21
Birnie, K. A., Pavlova, M., Neville, A., Noel, M. E., Jordán, I., Jordan, E., Marianayagam, J., Stinson, J., Lorenzetti, D., Faulkner, V., et al. (2021) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002339 · Cited by 23
“Furthermore, only 3 of 50 included reviews focused on virtual or remotely delivered care.(3,11,30) Virtual care includes therapies that are accessed by the patient or family, or delivered to the patient or family by health professionals, using any form of communication or information technology (eg, telehealth/telemed…”
BackgroundResultHoffmann, A., Christmann, C. A., Zolynski, G., & Bleser, G. (2020) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/13170 · Cited by 22
“Rather than providing evidence-based behavior change programs, the reviewed pain management apps reveal a lack of combination of evidence-based functionalities [34-36].”
BackgroundResultInfluentialRichardson, J. E., Lee, J. I., Nirenberg, A., & Reid, M. C. (2016) · Pain Medicine · doi:10.1093/pm/pnw284 · Cited by 21
Lalloo, C., Nishat, F., Zempsky, W. T., Bakshi, N., Badawy, S. M., Ko, Y. J., Dampier, C., Stinson, J., & Palermo, T. M. (2022) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/40096 · Cited by 23
“Ubiquitous consumer technologies (eg, smartphones) offer opportunities to enhance the accessibility and interactivity of self-management support for youth with SCD [21,22]. iCanCope with pain is a digital pain self-management platform originally developed for youth with chronic pain [23-25].”
Tran-Nguyen, K., Berger, C., Bennett, R., Wall, M., Morin, S. N., & Rajabiyazdi, F. (2022) · JMIR Aging · doi:10.2196/37772 · Cited by 20
“However, systematic and scoping reviews have found that most mHealth apps were developed for chronic pain rather than for acute pain management [9-12].”
BackgroundSimon, J. D. H. P., Hooijman, I., van Gorp, M., Schepers, S. A., Michiels, E. M. C., Tissing, W. J. E., & Grootenhuis, M. A. (2023) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-023-07629-2 · Cited by 22
Metadata
- Authors
- Lalloo, C., Jibb, L. A., Rivera, J., Agarwal, A., & Stinson, J. N.
- Affiliations
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Great Ormond Street Hospital (GB)
- McMaster University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Lalloo, Chitra
- Jibb, Lindsay A.
- Rivera, Jordan
- Stinson, Jennifer N.
- Venue
- The Clinical Journal of Pain
- Published
- 2015-06
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 557-563
- ISSN
- 0749-8047 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1985859049
- Cited by
- 257
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 5
- FWCI
- 2.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Journal of Pain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Opioid Use
- Keywords
- pain self-management, mobile health apps, mobile application, pain education, self-monitoring, social support
- MeSH terms
- Smartphone, Humans, Self Care, Pain Management, Mobile Applications
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
