TY - JOUR
T1 - Public opinion of the Irish “COVID Tracker” digital contact tracing App
T2 - A national survey
AU - O’Callaghan, Michael E.
AU - Abbas, Manzar
AU - Buckley, Jim
AU - Fitzgerald, Brian
AU - Johnson, Kevin
AU - Laffey, John
AU - McNicholas, Bairbre
AU - Nuseibeh, Bashar
AU - O’Keeffe, Derek
AU - Beecham, Sarah
AU - Razzaq, Abdul
AU - Rekanar, Kaavya
AU - Richardson, Ita
AU - Simpkin, Andrew
AU - O’Connell, James
AU - Storni, Cristiano
AU - Tsvyatkova, Damyanka
AU - Walsh, Jane
AU - Welsh, Thomas
AU - Glynn, Liam G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - Objective: This study aims to gather public opinion on the Irish “COVID Tracker” digital contact tracing (DCT) App, with particular focus on App usage, usability, usefulness, technological issues encountered, and potential changes to the App. Methods: A 35-item online questionnaire was deployed for 10 days in October 2020, 3 months after the launch of the Irish DCT App. Results: A total of 2889 completed responses were recorded, with 2553 (88%) respondents currently using the App. Although four in five users felt the App is easy to download, is easy to use and looks professional, 615 users (22%) felt it had slowed down their phone, and 757 (28%) felt it had a negative effect on battery life. Seventy-nine percent of respondents reported the App's main function is to aid contact tracing. Inclusion of national COVID-19 trends is a useful ancillary function according to 87% of respondents, and there was an appetite for more granular local data. Overall, 1265 (44%) respondents believed the App is helping the national effort, while 1089 (38%) were unsure. Conclusions: DCT Apps may potentially augment traditional contact tracing methods. Despite some reports of negative effects on phone performance, just 7% of users who have tried the App have deleted it. Ancillary functionality, such as up-to-date regional COVID-19, may encourage DCT App use. This study describes general positivity toward the Irish COVID Tracker App among users but also highlights the need for transparency on effectiveness of App-enabled contact tracing and for study of non-users to better establish barriers to use.
AB - Objective: This study aims to gather public opinion on the Irish “COVID Tracker” digital contact tracing (DCT) App, with particular focus on App usage, usability, usefulness, technological issues encountered, and potential changes to the App. Methods: A 35-item online questionnaire was deployed for 10 days in October 2020, 3 months after the launch of the Irish DCT App. Results: A total of 2889 completed responses were recorded, with 2553 (88%) respondents currently using the App. Although four in five users felt the App is easy to download, is easy to use and looks professional, 615 users (22%) felt it had slowed down their phone, and 757 (28%) felt it had a negative effect on battery life. Seventy-nine percent of respondents reported the App's main function is to aid contact tracing. Inclusion of national COVID-19 trends is a useful ancillary function according to 87% of respondents, and there was an appetite for more granular local data. Overall, 1265 (44%) respondents believed the App is helping the national effort, while 1089 (38%) were unsure. Conclusions: DCT Apps may potentially augment traditional contact tracing methods. Despite some reports of negative effects on phone performance, just 7% of users who have tried the App have deleted it. Ancillary functionality, such as up-to-date regional COVID-19, may encourage DCT App use. This study describes general positivity toward the Irish COVID Tracker App among users but also highlights the need for transparency on effectiveness of App-enabled contact tracing and for study of non-users to better establish barriers to use.
KW - COVID-19
KW - contact tracing
KW - mHealth
KW - public health
KW - software applications
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126666502&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/20552076221085065
DO - 10.1177/20552076221085065
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85126666502
VL - 8
SP - 20552076221085065
JO - Digital Health
JF - Digital Health
ER -