Ella Jones

My thesis focused on creating a public health app on the NHS Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Programme.

The NHS Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening programme aims to reduce the mortality associated with AAA spontaneously bursting. Mortality from an AAA rupture is significant at 85%, the screening programme is thought to reduce the deaths of the affected population by 50%. However, the uptake of AAA screening can be improved, as the public awareness of AAA screening is less in comparison to other screening programmes, specifically within certain groups of the population such as the economically deprived. mHealth apps have been successful in increasing the uptake of screening as well as increasing participants’ knowledge and awareness regarding other screening programmes.

The aim of this project was to develop a mobile app to assess public health awareness of the NHS AAA screening programme and to collect data on the enrolled cohort’s perceived usability of the app and their digital literacy.