Adolescents’ Assessment of Two Mental Health–Promoting Mobile Apps: Results of Two User Surveys

Abstract

Background The importance of mental health promotion is irrevocable and is especially important at a young age. More mental health-promoting mobile apps have been developed in the last few years. However, their usability and quality have been rarely assessed. Objective The aim of this study is to investigate how adolescents assess the usability, quality, and potential goal achievement of Opp and NettOpp. Opp is a universal mental health–promoting mobile app aimed at 13- to 19-year-olds, and NettOpp is a mobile app for children and adolescents between 11 to 16 years of age that have experienced negative incidents online. Methods A total of 45 adolescents tested either Opp (n=30) or NettOpp (n=15) for a period of 3 weeks and answered a questionnaire. The System Usability Scale (SUS) was used to measure the usability of the apps. A SUS score above 70 indicates acceptable usability. Items from the Mobile Application Rating Scale were adapted for study purposes and used to measure the quality and perceived goal achievement that Opp and NettOpp might have on adolescents’ knowledge, attitudes, and intention to change behavior. Furthermore, adolescents could answer an open comment question. Results Opp had a mean SUS score of 80.37 (SD 9.27), and NettOpp’s mean SUS score was 80.33 (SD 10.30). In the overall evaluation, Opp and NettOpp were given a mean score of 3.78 (SD 0.42) and 4.20 (SD 0.56), respectively, on a 5-point scale, where 5 was best. Most adolescents who evaluated Opp rated that the app would increase knowledge about mental health and help young people deal with stress and difficult emotions or situations. Most adolescents who evaluated NettOpp agreed that the app would increase awareness and knowledge about cyberbullying, change attitudes toward cyberbullying, and motivate them to address cyberbullying. Some adolescents stated that Opp was difficult to navigate and consisted of too much text. Some of the adolescents that tested NettOpp stated that the app had crashed and that the design was a bit childish. Conclusions All in all, this study indicates that Opp and NettOpp have good usability and that adolescents are satisfied with both apps. It also indicates that the potential goal achievement of the apps, for example, increasing knowledge about mental health (Opp) or cyberbullying (NettOpp) is promising. While there are some comments from the users that are more difficult to solve (eg, Opp is too text-based), some comments helped improve the apps (eg, that the app crashed). Overall, the user evaluation provided valuable knowledge about how adolescents assess Opp and NettOpp. However, more extensive effectiveness studies are necessary to measure their actual goal achievement.

Virtual Pedagogy and Care: Systematic Review on Educational Innovation with Mobile Applications for the Development of Healthy Habits in the Adolescent Population

“…Of the nine studies included in this review, two (22.22%) were controlled randomised trials [ 17 , 21 ], one (11.11%) was an observational analytical study [ 18 ], one (11.11%) was a prospective, multi-institutional, controlled, randomised trial [ 14 ], three (33.33%) were cross-sectional analytical studies [ 15 , 19 , 22 ], one (11.11%) was an observational retrospective analysis [ 16 ], and one (11.11%) had a quasi-experimental longitudinal design [ 20 ].…”

“…The conclusions of this analysis are shown in Table 1 . Of the nine articles included, four of them had a moderate global score [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ], whereas the other five had a weak global score [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. However, despite the fact that five of the articles presented global weak scores, they had strong internal components in variables such as data gathering and the percentage of participants who reached the end of the intervention.…”

“…Therefore, although these five articles presented a global weak score, since their most relevant internal components were strong, they were included in this study. It is worth highlighting that six of the nine articles presented a strong score in the percentage of participants who reached the end of the interventions [ 14 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 22 ]. Another aspect worth pointing out is the use of validated instruments in most of the studies (60%) for data gathering, with strong scores in this component [ 14 , 15 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

A Universal Mental Health–Promoting Mobile App for Adolescents: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The study indicated that Opp had good usability, and the overall mean star ranking of the app was 3.78 (SD 0.42) on a 5-point scale. A large proportion of the adolescents thought that Opp was interesting to use (20/27, 74%), that the design was good (25/27, 93%), and that it was appropriate for the target group (24/27, 89%) [ 20 ].…”

Exploring Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward Mental Health Apps: Concurrent Mixed Methods Study

“…There are several mental health apps available for adolescents, but as Grist et al [ 13 ] point out, the quality of the assessment on these apps is scarce. Research on mental health apps for adolescents indicates that young people are generally satisfied with the access to and ease of use of mental health apps [ 13 , 24 ]. Kenny et al [ 25 ] highlight in their study that adolescents prefer mental health apps to be safe, engaging, and easily accessible.…”