A Systematic Review of Mobile Apps for Child Sexual Abuse Education: Limitations and Design Guidelines

With the availability of many child sexual abuse (CSA) education apps in different app stores, the demand for an evaluation system has become necessary as little information regarding their evidence-based quality is available. The objectives of this study are understanding the requirements of a CSA education app, identifying the limitations of existing apps, and providing a guideline for better app design. An electronic search across three major app stores (Google Play, Apple, and Microsoft) is conducted and the selected apps are rated by three independent raters. Total 191 apps are found and finally, 14 apps are selected for review based on defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. An app rating scale for CSA education apps is devised by modifying existing scales and used to evaluate the selected 14 apps. Our rating scale evaluates essential features, criteria, and software quality characteristics that are necessary for CSA education apps, and determined their effectiveness for potential use as CSA education programs for children. The internal consistency of the rating scale and the inter and intra-rater reliability among the raters are also calculated. User comments from the app stores are collected and analyzed to understand their expectations and views. After analyzing the feasibility of reviewed apps, CSA app design considerations are proposed that highlight game-based teaching approaches. Evaluation results showed that most of the reviewed apps are not suitable for being used as CSA education programs. While a few may be able to teach children and parents individually, only the apps “Child Abuse Prevention” (rate 3.89 out of 5) and “Orbit Rescue” (rate 3.92 out of 5) could be deemed suitable for a school-based CSA education program. However, all those apps need to be improved both their software qualities and CSA-specific features for being considered as potential CSA education programs. This study provides the necessary knowledge to developers and individuals regarding essential features and software quality characteristics for designing and developing CSA education apps.

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