The global impact of COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid development and utilization of mobile health applications. These are addressing the unmet needs of healthcare and public health system including contact tracing, health information dissemination, symptom checking and providing tools for training healthcare providers. Here we provide an overview of mobile applications being currently utilized for COVID-19 and their assessment using the Mobile Application Rating Scale. We performed a systematic review of the literature and mobile platforms to assess mobile applications currently utilized for COVID-19, and a quality assessment of these applications using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) for overall quality, Engagement, Functionality, Aesthetics, and Information. Finally, we provide an overview of the key salient features that should be included in mobile applications being developed for future use. Our search identified 63 apps that are currently being used for COVID-19. Of these, 25 were selected from the Google play store and Apple App store in India, and 19 each from the UK and US. 18 apps were developed for sharing up to date information on COVID-19, and 8 were used for contact tracing while 9 apps showed features of both. On MARS Scale, overall scores ranged from 2.4 to 4.8 with apps scoring high in areas of functionality and lower in Engagement. Future steps should involve developing and testing of mobile applications using assessment tools like the MARS scale and the study of their impact on health behaviours and outcomes.

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Background The COVID19 pandemic is a disaster of unprecedented proportions with global repercussions. Psychological preparedness, the primed cognitive awareness and anticipation of dealing with emotional responses in an adverse situation, has assumed a compelling relevance during a health disaster of this magnitude. Methods An anonymized eSurvey was conducted in India to assess psychological preparedness towards the ongoing pandemic with a focus on knowledge, management of own and others’ emotional response and anticipatory coping mechanisms amongst the survey population. An adapted version of the qualitative Psychological Preparedness for Natural Disaster scale validated by the World Health Organization was widely circulated over the internet and various social media platforms for assessment. Results are expressed as median ± standard deviation). Descriptive stats were used and figures downloaded from surveymonkey.com. Results Of the 1120 respondents (M: F 1.7:1, age 35 years ±14.1) most expressed a high level of perceived knowledge and confidence of managing COVID-19, such as awareness of the symptoms of the illness (95.1%), actions needed (94.4%), hospital to report to (88.9%), and emergency contact number (89.1%). A majority monitored news bulletins and scientific journals regarding COVID-19 regularly (95%). However, nearly one-third (29.2%) could not assess their likelihood of developing COVID-19, and 17.5% were unaware of the difference between a mild and severe infection. Twenty- three per cent (23.3%) were unfamiliar with the materials needed in an acute illness situation. Conclusion Psychological disaster preparedness is reasonable, although lacking in specific domains. Timely but focused interventions can be a cost-efficient administrative exercise which federal agencies may prioritize working on.

The use of social media platforms (SMPs) in the field of scientific literature is a new and evolving realm. The past few years have seen many novel strategies to promote engagement of readers with articles. The aim of this study was to gauge the acceptance, opinion, and willingness to partake in the creation of online social media educative material among authors. We conducted a validated and anonymized cross-sectional e-survey with purposive sampling among authors of the Indian Journal of Rheumatology journal over a cloud-based platform (SurveyMonkey). Descriptive statistics are used and values expressed as the number of respondents (n) against each answer. Of 408 authors, 102 responded. We found that a large majority (74) supported promotions on SMPs. Visual abstracts (81) were the most preferred means for promotion. A reasonable proportion (54) of the authors held the view that they could make these materials for themselves, with little guidance. However, currently only a few (47) were doing so. Awareness on social media editors in rheumatology was dismal (4). Citations were the preferred metric of article visibility (95), followed by altmetrics (21). These findings suggest that authors support article promotions on SMPs, although most do not promote their articles. Graphical abstracts are the preferred means of promotions. Further, the opinion on logistics is divided, calling for larger studies to understand the factors that need to be addressed to bridge the gap.

The global impact of COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need to rapidly develop and improve utilization of mobile applications across the healthcare continuum to address rising barriers of access to care due to social distancing challenges and allow continuity in sharing of health information, assist with COVID-19 activities including contact tracing, and providing useful information as needed. Here we provide an overview of mobile applications being currently utilized for COVID-19 related activities. We performed a systematic review of the literature and mobile platforms to assess mobile applications been currently utilized for COVID-19, and quality assessment of these applications using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) for overall quality, Engagement, Functionality, Aesthetics, and Information. Finally, we provide an overview of the key salient features that should be included in mobile applications being developed for future use. Our search identified 63 apps that are currently being used for COVID-19. Of these, 25 were selected from the Google play store and Apple App store in India, and 19 each from the UK and US. 18 apps were developed for sharing up to date information on COVID-19, and 8 were used for contact tracing while 9 apps showed features of both. On MARS Scale, overall scores ranged from 2.4 to 4.8 with apps scoring high in areas of functionality and lower in Engagement. Future steps should involve developing and testing of mobile applications using assessment tools like the MARS scale and the study of their impact on health behaviors and outcomes.