The Dating and Domestic Violence App Rubric: Synthesizing Clinical Best Practices and Digital Health App Standards for Relationship Violence Prevention Smartphone Apps

Smartphones are used to both perpetrate and intervene in dating and domestic violence (DV). However, existing DV literature primarily evaluates technology as a tool for perpetration and emerging frameworks that measure eHealth app interventions have not yet considered DV.To address this gap, the Dating and Domestic Violence App Rubric assesses smartphone-based DV intervention apps along common eHealth app measures such as user responsiveness and security as well as DV-appropriateness – categories derived from eHealth intervention theory and evidence-based DV interventions. As proof of concept, 38 DV intervention apps for iPhone were measured using this rubric.K-means cluster analysis identified three clusters (high, medium, low). Apps targeting specific users or a specific intervention strategy tended to score higher overall. Findings suggest high-quality DV intervention apps may depend on active collaboration between stakeholders including app developers, DV advocates, and other professionals. Future research should expand this research to include additional DV apps and explore how individuals use smartphone apps to prevent or intervene in DV.