The Challenges of Mobile Health Development

Today, with the development of mobile health (mHealth), it is possible to change the health behavior of patients and there is a potential for positive health outcomes. The inherent features of mHealth equipment lead to numerous competitive health benefits; however, despite that, mHealth development faces many political, safety, security and technical challenges. Lack of proper business model, lack of comprehensive policies for mass investment and non-compliance with legal guidelines are other political challenges to mHealth development. Secure app development requires: safe app development guidelines, knowledge, expertise, and developer motivation; interaction with security experts, stakeholders’ participation, accessing necessary resources, removing limitations and performing security tests. Some apps are technically difficult to install, and some do not have a good interface. Lack of integration of data generated in patients' mobile devices with their electronic health records prevents professionals from easily accessing the data. Continuous measurement of the vital parameters of the mHealth participants leads to a sky rocket increase in data, analysis, communication and workload. Excessive focus on health assessments can negatively affect the mental health of low-motivated users. Accordingly, more motivated patients need to participate in mHealth programs to lead to positive mHealth outcomes.

governments should recognize mHealth and policymakers should address health inequalities through it. It seems that close collaboration of stakeholders can be effective in solving the challenges of developing mHealth. Proper cooperation requires the existence of appropriate guideline s and regulations, extensive investment and the promotion of a culture of mHealth medicalization.