The Complexity of Mental Health App Privacy Policies: A Potential Barrier to Privacy

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet #Preprint #PeerReviewMe: Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint. Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn. Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period. Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author). Background: In 2017, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that privacy is a fundamental right of every citizen. While smartphone apps have the potential to help people with non-communicable diseases, they often contain complex privacy policies which consumers may not understand. This complexity may impede consumers’ ability to make decisions regarding privacy, a critical issue due to the stigma of mental illness. Objective: Our objective is to determine whether mental health apps have more complex privacy policies than diabetes apps. Methods: The study utilizes privacy policies extracted from apps. Apps pertained to diabetes or mental health, and were of Indian origin. Privacy policy reading complexity was compared between the two types of apps using a series of fifteen readability measures. The universe of applicable apps on the Google Play store, as viewed between May and June 2017, was considered. The measures of readability were compared using Chi-square tests. Results: No significant difference was found between the privacy policy readability of the diabetes apps versus the mental health apps for each of the measures considered. As the mean Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level was 13.9 for diabetes apps and 13.6 for mental health apps, the mean policy was written at a college level. Privacy policies in the 25th percentile of complexity were also written at a college level for both types of apps. Conclusions: Privacy policy complexity may be a barrier for informed decision making. Clinical Trial: NA

This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit: