The German Version of the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS-G): Development and Validation Study

Messner, Eva-Maria and Terhorst, Yannik and Barke, Antonia and Baumeister, Harald and Stoyanov, Stoyan and Hiddes, Leane and Kavanagh, David and Pryss, Rüdiger and Sander, Lasse and Probst, Thomas (2020) The German Version of the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS-G): Development and Validation Study. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 8 (3).

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Abstract

Background: The number of mobile health apps (MHAs), which are developed to promote healthy behaviors, prevent disease onset, manage and cure diseases, or assist with rehabilitation measures, has exploded. App store star ratings and descriptions usually provide insufficient or even false information about app quality, although they are popular among end users. A rigorous systematic approach to establish and evaluate the quality of MHAs is urgently needed. The Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) is an assessment tool that facilitates the objective and systematic evaluation of the quality of MHAs. However, a German MARS is currently not available.
Objective: The aim of this study was to translate and validate a German version of the MARS (MARS-G).
Methods: The original 19-item MARS was forward and backward translated twice, and the MARS-G was created. App description items were extended, and 104 MHAs were rated twice by eight independent bilingual researchers, using the MARS-G and MARS. The internal consistency, validity, and reliability of both scales were assessed. Mokken scale analysis was used to investigate the scalability of the overall scores.
Results: The retranslated scale showed excellent alignment with the original MARS. Additionally, the properties of the MARS-G were comparable to those of the original MARS. The internal consistency was good for all subscales (ie, omega ranged from 0.72 to 0.91). The correlation coefficients (r) between the dimensions of the MARS-G and MARS ranged from 0.93 to 0.98. The scalability of the MARS (H=0.50) and MARS-G (H=0.48) were good.
Conclusions: The MARS-G is a reliable and valid tool for experts and stakeholders to assess the quality of health apps in German-speaking populations. The overall score is a reliable quality indicator. However, further studies are needed to assess the factorial structure of the MARS and MARS-G.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: DBIS Research > Publications
Divisions: Faculty of Engineering, Electronics and Computer Science > Institute of Databases and Informations Systems > DBIS Research and Teaching > DBIS Research > Publications
Depositing User: Ruediger Pryss
Date Deposited: 15 Jun 2020 20:33
Last Modified: 15 Jun 2020 20:33
URI: http://dbis.eprints.uni-ulm.de/id/eprint/1914

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