title: "There's a Pain App for That": Review of Patient-targeted Smartphone Applications for Pain Management.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There are a growing number of pain self-management applications (apps) available for users to download on personal smartphones. The purpose of this study was to critically appraise the content and self-management functionality of currently available pain apps.
  
  
  METHODS
  An electronic search was conducted between May and June 2014 of the official stores for the 4 major operating systems. Two authors independently identified patient-focused apps with a stated goal of pain management. Discrepancies regarding selection were resolved through discussion with a third party. Metadata from all included apps were abstracted into a standard form. The content and functionality of each app as it pertained to pain self-management was rated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 279 apps met the inclusion criteria. Pain self-care skill support was the most common self-management function (77.4%). Apps also purported providing patients with the ability to engage in pain education (45.9%), self-monitoring (19%), social support (3.6%), and goal-setting (0.72%). No apps were comprehensive in terms of pain self-management, with the majority of apps including only a single self-management function (58.5%). In addition, only 8.2% of apps included a health care professional in their development, not a single app provided a theoretical rationale, and only 1 app underwent scientific evaluation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Currently available pain self-management apps for patients are simplistic, lack the involvement of health care professionals in their development, and have not been rigorously tested for effectiveness on pain-related health outcomes. There is a need to develop and test theoretically and evidence-based apps to better support patients with accessible pain care self-management.
authors.affiliation: *The Hospital for Sick Children, Child Health Evaluative Sciences †Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto Departments of §Anaesthesia ∥Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto ‡Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Chitra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lalloo
authors.forename: Lindsay A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Jibb
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rivera
authors.forename: Arnav
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Jennifer N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Stinson
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D063731:Mobile Applications; D059408:Pain Management / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D012648:Self Care / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D000068997:Smartphone