A Protocol Based on Systematic Mapping Studies for Searching Health Applications in Non-Academic Repositories

Systematic mapping studies (SMSs) help obtain an overview of a research topic. SMSs are conducted with protocols that ensure their reliability and allow their replication by other researchers. The focus of an SMS is to identify peer-reviewed articles indexed in academic databases. Therefore, conducting an SMS does not encompass identifying software applications hosted in non-academic repositories. This article presents a protocol for systematic mappings in non-academic repositories (SMNARs). The SMNAR protocol was developed from adaptations of an SMS methodology consolidated in the literature and was aimed at assisting in the search, cataloging, and analysis of health software applications hosted in non-academic application and source code repositories. Thus, part of the adaptations was based on health application search approaches found in the literature. Two SMNAR user guides were developed, one designed for healthcare professionals and the other for software developers. To assess the feasibility of these guides, a study was conducted with participants from the healthcare and computer science fields. This study had both synchronous and asynchronous moments. In the former, a presentation contextualized the SMNAR protocol, proposed guides, and study procedures. In the latter, the participants partially planned and conducted an SMNAR using the proposed guides as support. Online forms were applied to obtain participants' perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and intention to use the proposed guides. The participants indicated good acceptance of the guides and suggested possible improvements in the protocol description. These results contributed to refining the SMNAR user guides.