Consumers want support in finding accurate, effective smartphone apps for health and wellness, and they should be subject to an authoritative regulatory system that rates them for efficacy.
As consumers increasingly turn to health apps to aid and monitor their health and treatment, there’s clearly a need for people to know how trustworthy an app is, whether it offers the best option available and if it is worth the investment in time and money.
The results of our first panel survey highlight growing public demand for credible and effective oversight of health apps and their accelerating reach into every aspect of health care.
- Respondents trust their GPs most when it comes to recommendations for apps, but also do their own research and look to other sources for information.
- There is a role for the government to play in regulating health and wellness apps, with nearly 90% of respondents to our survey say that either the government .should review and rate health apps (58%), or should fund another organisation to do it (31%).
- There is a healthy scepticism towards trusting sources like Google or even recommendations from peers completely
- Respondents trust non-government health organisations to provide sound advice.
Note: as this was the first Australia's Health Panel survey, the format for reporting results is different from subsequent AHP surveys as the process has been iterated.