The Use of mHealth Apps Among College Students

In society today, mobile technology is a booming industry with steadily increasing revenues. By 2016, nearly one billion consumers worldwide will own smartphones, and the United States alone will have 257 million smartphone users and 126 million will own tablets (Schadler & McCarthy, 2012). Mobile technology is also rapidly reaching people of every race, age group, and background and is quickly evolving the way people communicate and relate to the world (Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2011). For health educators this presents a great opportunity for innovation in the area of mobile health. A device that has the capability of reaching a plethora of audiences combined with the ability to tailor messages is something that health educators can utilize and take advantage of to be effective in influencing health behavior change in this new era.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to identify what mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps) college students were downloading and using on their mobile device; and (2) to identify the common characteristics among the most downloaded mHealth apps.

Approximately 1,200 college students enrolled in a general education course at a large southeastern university were surveyed over the course of 3 consecutive semesters in 2011. The survey contained a wide range of items regarding mobile phone access, information seeking behaviors, and mHealth apps. The response rate for completion of the survey was 97% (N=1,154).

Approximately 75% of the students, who were surveyed, indicated they have mobile phones capable of downloading applications. Of those students, 30.4% had mHealth apps on their phone. The most popular application among these students were myfitnesspal, followed by calorie counter, WebMD, and LoseIt!

After analyzing the most popular mhealth apps it was identified that the most common feature among them was the ability to track health information. The second most popular was the ability to personalize the app and tailor it towards their own health. With all of the information gathered on the current mobile health applications that college students are using, this can empower many health professionals and public health education workers to create innovative ways to reach people and create overall better health outcomes. Combining all this with health education theories and interventions can make for a highly successful way to reach the public.