The DOI matches its Crossref record; 16 of the 16 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Smartphone applications for pain management
Abstract
Smartphone applications (or apps) are becoming increasingly popular. The lack of regulation or guidance for health-related apps means that the validity and reliability of their content is unknown. We have conducted a review of available apps relating to the generic condition of pain. The official application stores for five major smartphone platforms were searched: iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Nokia/Symbian and Windows Mobile. Apps were included if they reported a focus on pain education, management or relief, and were not solely aimed at health-care professionals (HCPs). A total of 111 apps met the inclusion criteria. The majority of apps reviewed claimed some information provision or electronic manual component. Diary tracking of pain variables was also a common feature. There was a low level of stated HCP involvement in app development and content. Despite an increasing number of apps being released, the frequency of HCP involvement is not increasing. Pain apps appear to be able to promise pain relief without any concern for the effectiveness of the product, or for possible adverse effects of product use. In a population often desperate for a solution to distressing and debilitating pain conditions, there is considerable risk of individuals being misled.
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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 [33]
In the citing paper
“Previous reviews of smartphone apps focused mainly on those developed by Apple Inc. 3,30”
From Smartphone applications for melanoma detection by community, patient and generalist clinician users: a review (2015) · cites this paper as [3]
In the citing paper
“The app, which has been developed by a multidisciplinary team including physicians, nurses, psychologists and engineers following guidelines on pain research and eHealth [38,39,40,41], was found to have valid content”
In the citing paper
“In fact, although it has been argued that mobile technology (mHealth)—especially the use of smartphone apps—facilitates this paradigm shift towards telemonitoring in chronic pain care, reviews on this topic have evidenced that randomized controlled trials (RCT) evaluating the usefulness of these tools are lacking in the chronic pain literature [39,41,43,44,45].”
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 [37]
In the citing paper
“There is a need for research in this field because many applications seem to have been developed without the involvement of a health care professional and, to our knowledge, none have been tested in randomized trials [22].”
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“For example, certain apps designed for opioid dosage conversion or melanoma detection demonstrate dangerously poor accuracy, while a number of other medical apps do not follow evidence-based guidelines [11-14].”
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ResultHauser-Ulrich, S., Künzli, H., Meier-Peterhans, D., & Kowatsch, T. (2020) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/15806 · Cited by 210
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“App reviews focusing on other medical fields have reported similar findings such as colorectal conditions [14], vascular conditions [15], urology [16], orthopedic sports medicine [17], hernias [18], obesity [19], ophthalmology [20], and pain management [21].”
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Smartphone apps for calculating insulin dose: a systematic assessment
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Alessa, T., Hawley, M. S., Hock, E. S., & de Witte, L. (2019) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/13645 · Cited by 170
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Colorectal smartphone apps: opportunities and risks
O’Neill, S., & Brady, R. R. W. (2012) · Colorectal Disease · doi:10.1111/j.1463-1318.2012.03088.x · Cited by 165
“In other specialties, reports have emerged of a similar low level of professional medical involvement in app design and have found content containing misleading claims and a lack of academic reference [6,19].”
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“Rosser and Eccleston [15] reviewed currently available pain-related apps and found 86% did not have a healthcare professional involved in the development or evaluation of the content in the app and only 12% had a physician as an app creator.”
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InfluentialSingh, A., Piana, S., Pollarolo, D., Volpe, G., Varni, G., Tajadura‐Jiménez, A., Williams, A. C. D. C., Camurri, A., & Bianchi‐Berthouze, N. (2015) · Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/07370024.2015.1085310 · Cited by 149
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“Another few papers (11/68) review apps in the context of specific purposes rather than specific specialties or general views, including apps as references [70,120,121], apps for pain management [67,68], clinical management [89], pre-operative settings [122], medical adherence [71], wellness [5], tobacco cessation [103…”
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Medical professional involvement in smartphone ‘apps’ in dermatology: Correspondence
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“burden to people living with other chronic conditions [99], such as asthma and diabetes [100-104], for whom quality of life relies on adherence to a treatment plan with the aim to optimize disease control, maintain quality of life, prevent unnecessary escalation of treatment.”
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“Concerns are commonly raised around the quality of such mobile health apps, due to the low levels of involvement by health care professionals, and failure to use a scientific evidence base in app development [15,16].”
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“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].”
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“dermatology (36 %) [23], microbiology (34 %) [7], coloproctology (32 %) [24]) and in pain management [25].”
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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
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“In addition, few eHealth interventions are developed by, or in collaboration with, health care professionals [12,23,24].”
BackgroundCommercially 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
“In a 2011 scoping review, Rosser and Eccleston identified 111 such apps [13].”
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Infant Feeding Websites and Apps: A Systematic Assessment of Quality and Content
Taki, S., Campbell, K. J., Russell, C. G., Elliott, R. M., Laws, R., & Denney‐Wilson, E. (2015) · Interactive Journal of Medical Research · doi:10.2196/ijmr.4323 · Cited by 89
“However, there are concerns regarding the quality of information provided on websites and apps about infant feeding as this may lead to the adoption of inappropriate practices [12].”
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
Mobile technology and forgotten consumers: the young‐elderly
Nikou, S. (2015) · International Journal of Consumer Studies · doi:10.1111/ijcs.12187 · Cited by 83
Smartphone apps in microbiology—is better regulation required?
Visvanathan, A., Hamilton, A., & Brady, R. R. W. (2012) · Clinical Microbiology and Infection · doi:10.1111/j.1469-0691.2012.03892.x · Cited by 82
“various specialties has been reported [6–11], including reviews on available apps in anaesthesia [8] and infectious diseases [11].”
BackgroundWhat makes a mobile app successful in supporting health behaviour change?
Fitzgerald, M., & McClelland, T. (2017) · Health Education Journal · doi:10.1177/0017896916681179 · Cited by 62
Integration 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
Who Uses Smoking Cessation Apps? A Feasibility Study Across Three Countries via Smartphones
BinDhim, N. F., McGeechan, K., & Trevena, L. J. (2014) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.2841 · Cited by 79
“Although we have not provided a specific definition of app “credibility” and relied on the users’ self-definition, this still poses a problem since many studies indicate low reliability and quality in all health related apps covering such topics as smoking [1,16], asthma [35], cancer [36], and pain management [37].”
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Optimizing cancer care through mobile health
Odeh, B., Kayyali, R., Nabhani‐Gebara, S., & Philip, N. Y. (2015) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-015-2627-7 · Cited by 80
“It could also be used to monitor patients with chronic heart failure [15], to detect early signs of arrhythmia or ischaemia [16] and to support pain management [17] and cancer patients [18].”
BackgroundJibb, L., Stevens, B., Nathan, P. C., Seto, E., Cafazzo, J. A., & Stinson, J. (2014) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/resprot.3041 · Cited by 78
“Because mHealth is a relatively burgeoning field, few rigorous examinations of the impact of smartphone app interventions on patient, provider, and system outcomes have been conducted, especially in the area of pain [25].”
BackgroundSmart Phone Applications as a Source of Information on Stroke
Dubey, D., Amritphale, A., Sawhney, A., Amritphale, N., Dubey, P. K., & Pandey, A. (2014) · Journal of Stroke · doi:10.5853/jos.2014.16.2.86 · Cited by 74
“Smart phone apps are increasingly being used by the patients for information on early identification of stroke symptoms, risk factor awareness and management.(6,7) Health-related smart phone apps are being actively studied for potential applications in a wide variety of fields of medical importance including but not l…”
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
Piloting a Text Message–based Social Support Intervention for Patients With Chronic Pain
Guillory, J. E., Chang, P. F., Henderson, C., Shengelia, R., Lama, S. D., Warmington, M., Jowza, M., Waldman, S. A., Gay, G. K., & Reid, M. C. (2015) · Clinical Journal of Pain · doi:10.1097/ajp.0000000000000193 · Cited by 72
Dogruel, L., Joeckel, S., & Bowman, N. D. (2014) · Mobile Media & Communication · doi:10.1177/2050157914557509 · Cited by 75
“Studies on app use analyze the use (and potential use) of apps for specific tasks such as in medical and health services (Cowan et al., 2013; Rosser & Eccleston, 2011; Visser, Korevaar, & Nolan, 2013), travel-related tasks (Wang, Park, & Fesenmaier, 2012) or the use of news and location-based app…”
MethodAtee, M., Hoti, K., & Hughes, J. (2018) · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnagi.2018.00117 · Cited by 74
Benefits 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
“The authors of 3 previous reviews reported that apps were not effective for the following reasons: The participation of health care workers was too low, the apps could not find resources in the online store, and the apps that could be downloaded did not pass scientific verification [14,36,37].”
BackgroundLo, W. L. A., Lei, D., Li, L., Huang, D. F., & Tong, K. (2018) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.8127 · Cited by 76
“Recent advancement in information and communication technology (ICT) places strong emphasis on supporting self-management programs for chronic pain through mobile software apps [4,5].”
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
Tools for App- and Web-Based Self-Testing of Cognitive Impairment: Systematic Search and Evaluation
Charalambous, A. P., Pye, A., Yeung, W. K., Leroi, I., Neil, M., Thodi, C., & Dawes, P. (2019) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/14551 · Cited by 64
“Health professionals have often not been involved in the development of eHealth tools, and the tools have frequently been developed without appropriate validation [14-17].”
BackgroundA Taxonomy of mHealth Apps -- Security and Privacy Concerns
Plachkinova, M., Andrés, S., & Chatterjee, S. (2015) · Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) · doi:10.1109/hicss.2015.385 · Cited by 63
“There are numerous calls for better regulation of healthcare apps [16-18], yet not much has been done to address these concerns.”
BackgroundSmartphone as a Personal, Pervasive Health Informatics Services Platform: Literature Review
Wac, K. (2012) · Yearbook of Medical Informatics · doi:10.1055/s-0038-1639436 · Cited by 68
“Similarly, Rosser and Eccleston [118] audit 11 smartphone applications for pain self-management, and conclude that there is a low level of stated health-care professionals’ involvement in app development and content.”
BackgroundBinDhim, N. F., & Trevena, L. J. (2015) · Online Journal of Public Health Informatics · doi:10.5210/ojphi.v7i2.5522 · Cited by 62
“However, although hundreds of health apps target consumers, very few are evidence-based, and many are with low-quality content [37,41,43].”
BackgroundObesity Surgery Smartphone Apps: a Review
Stevens, D. J., Jackson, J. A., Howes, N., & Morgan, J. (2013) · Obesity Surgery · doi:10.1007/s11695-013-1010-3 · Cited by 62
“Low levels of health professional involvement in app design has been described in other specialties, and content has been found to lack appropriate academic reference and occasionally to mislead [5, 15, 16].”
BackgroundHaffey, F., Brady, R. R. W., & Maxwell, S. R. J. (2013) · British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology · doi:10.1111/bcp.12112 · Cited by 60
Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response: There’s An App for That
Bachmann, D., Jamison, N. K., Martin, A. A., Delgado, J., & Kman, N. E. (2015) · Prehospital and Disaster Medicine · doi:10.1017/s1049023x15005099 · Cited by 59
“These include apps to view guidelines and medication databases, perform calculations, remotely monitor patients’ vital signs, and view radiology images.(2-4) A review of apps specifically relating to Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response was conducted.”
BackgroundKong, Y., Posada-Quintero, H. F., & Chon, K. H. (2021) · Sensors · doi:10.3390/s21123956 · Cited by 61
“There have already been a few pain management applications for smartphone users, however, none of them offer both real-time and objective pain measurement [9,10].”
BackgroundMedical applications: a database and characterization of apps in Apple iOS and Android platforms
Seabrook, H. J., Stromer, J. N., Shevkenek, C., Bharwani, A. M., de Grood, J., & Ghali, W. A. (2014) · BMC Research Notes · doi:10.1186/1756-0500-7-573 · Cited by 57
“Reviews of apps that target specific health conditions [6-10] explore a larger number of available apps for patients.”
Can Standards and Regulations Keep Up With Health Technology?
Vincent, C., Niezen, G., O’Kane, A. A., & Stawarz, K. (2015) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.3918 · Cited by 57
“They range from behavior change apps supporting people who want to improve their health and well-being [3], for example, apps supporting smoking cessation (eg, SmokeFree28 [41]), or providing informed choice regarding alcohol intake (eg, Drinks Meter [42]), to apps focusing on specific conditions (eg, pain management…”
Blödt, S., Pach, D., Roll, S., & Witt, C. M. (2014) · Trials · doi:10.1186/1745-6215-15-490 · Cited by 54
“Despite an increasing number of available pain related apps, very few of them have been tested for effectiveness [41].”
BackgroundInfluentialLee, H., Sullivan, S. J., Schneiders, A. G., Ahmed, O. H., Balasundaram, A. P., Williams, D. D., Meeuwisse, W. H., & McCrory, P. R. (2014) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsports-2013-092930 · Cited by 54
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
Apps and Mobile Health Technology in Rehabilitation
Ramey, L. N., Osborne, C. L., Kasitinon, D., & Juengst, S. B. (2019) · Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.pmr.2018.12.001 · Cited by 55
Smartphone applications for seizure management
Pandher, P. S., & Bhullar, K. K. (2014) · Health Informatics Journal · doi:10.1177/1460458214540906 · Cited by 53
Bartlett, Y. K., Webb, T. L., & Hawley, M. (2017) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.6616 · Cited by 57
“As a consequence, there have been multiple calls for people to make better use of theory and evidence when designing apps intended to promote behavior change [9-11].”
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
“Several commercial mobile apps are now available for self-assessing pain as well [60].”
BackgroundVarsi, 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
Simons, L., Valentine, A. Z., Falconer, C. J., Groom, M., Daley, D., Craven, M. P., Young, Z., Hall, C., & Hollis, C. (2016) · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · doi:10.2196/mhealth.5009 · Cited by 52
“These devices afford the opportunity for the use of low-cost apps that can support clinical management at any time of day or in any location [35] through provision of trusted information, real-time monitoring and symptom tracking, prompts and medication reminders, personalized behavioral support, and communication wit…”
BackgroundLee, J.-H., Lee, M., Lim, T., Kim, T., Kim, S. M., Suh, D.-W., Lee, S., & Yoon, B. (2017) · European Journal of Integrative Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.eujim.2017.04.012 · Cited by 55
Knowledge discovery in clinical decision support systems for pain management: A systematic review
Pombo, N. G. C. C., Araújo, P., & Viana, J. (2013) · Artificial Intelligence in Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.artmed.2013.11.005 · Cited by 49
“cological momentary assessment (EMA) [119]), the inclusion of hese data in the CDSSs could help address the use of unregulated lectronic pain diaries, many of which are developed without medcal supervision, integration capabilities, or even evidence of their ffectiveness [120].”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Rosser, B. A., & Eccleston, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Bath (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Eccleston, Christopher
- Venue
- Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-08-15
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 308-312
- ISSN
- 1357-633X (ISSN-L)
- 1758-1109
- OpenAlex
- W2127728884
- Cited by
- 364
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 52 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 55.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/F002815/1, EP/F001916/1)
- 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
- mobile application, pain management, pain education, health apps, app regulation, electronic manuals, misleading health claims, consumer health information
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Medical Records, Cell Phone, Chronic Pain, Pain Management
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