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. 2023 Jan 30:31:100605.
doi: 10.1016/j.invent.2023.100605. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Smartphone apps for menstrual pain and symptom management: A scoping review

Lindsey C M Trépanier  1 , Élisabeth Lamoureux  2 , Sarah E Bjornson  1 , Cayley Mackie  1 , Nicole M Alberts  2 , Michelle M Gagnon  1
Affiliations

Smartphone apps for menstrual pain and symptom management: A scoping review

Lindsey C M Trépanier et al. Internet Interv. .

Abstract

The past decade marks a surge in the development of mobile apps used to digitally track and monitor aspects of personal health, including menstruation. Despite a plethora of menstruation-related apps, pain and symptom management content available in apps has not been systematically examined. The objective of this study was to evaluate app characteristics, overall quality (i.e., engagement, functionality, design aesthetics, and information), nature and quality of pain and symptom tracking features, and availability and quality of pain-related intervention content. A scoping review of apps targeting facets of the menstrual experience was conducted by searching the Apple App Store. After removal of duplicates and screening, 119 apps targeting menstrual experiences were retained. Pain and menstrual symptoms tracking were available in 64 % of apps. Checkboxes or dichotomous (present/absent) reporting was the most common method of tracking symptoms and was available in 75 % of apps. Only a small subset (n = 13) of apps allowed for charting/graphing of pain symptoms across cycles. Fourteen percent of apps included healthcare professionals or researchers in their development and one app reported use of end-users. Overall app quality measured through the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) was found to be acceptable; however, the apps ability to impact pain and symptom management (e.g., impact on knowledge, awareness, behaviour change, etc.) was rated as low. Only 10 % of apps (n = 12) had interventions designed to manage pain. The findings suggest that despite pain and symptom management content being present in apps, this content is largely not evidence-based in nature. More research is needed to understand how pain and symptom management content can be integrated into apps to improve user experiences.

Keywords: Digital interventions; Dysmenorrhea; Endometriosis; Menstrual pain; Mobile apps; Women's health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: L. C. M. Trépanier was supported by a CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship at the time of the development of this manuscript. N. M. Alberts holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Behavioural Health Intervention, and this research was undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the Canada Research Chairs Program. M. M. Gagnon was funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Early Career Investigators Grant in Maternal, Reproductive, Child & Youth Health during the development of this manuscript.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram of the process used to identify and screen app eligible for inclusion in review.
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