Managing stress through the Stress Free app: Practices of self-care in digitally mediated spaces

Tucker, Ian; Goodings, Lewis

doi:10.1177/2055207615580741

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Other barriers mentioned by participants also converge with those of previous research pointing out the stress-inducing potential of these apps [ 9 ]. Specifically, some participants saw prepopulated questions about their feelings as stress inducing.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Adolescents’ familiarity with mobile devices suggests that technology-based approaches would benefit them [ 8 ]; however, it is crucial to understand how best to tailor digital interventions to make them the most appealing. Tucker and Goodings [ 9 ] identified three themes that characterize most current MHapps, as follows: stress-inducing or stress-reducing apps, apps for configuring the body in space, and digital self-care apps. However, apps targeting adolescents likely need to expand into other areas such as positive focus, customizable features, human-human interaction, and easy access [ 3 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Preferences for Digital Smartphone Mental Health Apps Among Adolescents: Qualitative Interview Study

Ribanszki¹,

Fonseca²,

Barnby³

et al. 2021

JMIR Form Res

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Background Mental health digital apps hold promise for providing scalable solutions to individual self-care, education, and illness prevention. However, a problem with these apps is that they lack engaging user interfaces and experiences and thus potentially result in high attrition. Although guidelines for new digital interventions for adults have begun to examine engagement, there is a paucity of evidence on how to best address digital interventions for adolescents. As adolescence is a period of transition, during which the onset of many potentially lifelong mental health conditions frequently occurs, understanding how best to engage this population is crucial. Objective The study aims to detect potential barriers to engagement and to gather feedback on the current elements of app design regarding user experience, user interface, and content. Methods This study used a qualitative design. A sample of 14 adolescents was asked to use the app for 1 week and was interviewed using a semistructured interview schedule. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Overall, 13 participants completed the interviews. The authors developed 6 main themes and 20 subthemes based on the data that influenced engagement with and the perceived usefulness of the app. Our main themes were timing, stigma, perception, congruity, usefulness, and user experience. Conclusions In line with previous research, we suggest how these aspects of app development should be considered for future apps that aim to prevent and manage mental health conditions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preferences for Digital Smartphone Mental Health Apps Among Adolescents: Qualitative Interview Study

Ribanszki¹,

Fonseca²,

Barnby³

et al. 2021

JMIR Form Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therapeutic spaces can also be digitally-mediated,17 and this was evident in the stories. Online discussion forums were singled out over other digital media as key spaces where people could find reassurance, comfort, feeling less alone and solutions for how they should address or resolve their health problems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, a growing body of social research on people’s use of apps and wearable devices has begun to demonstrate that these technologies can help people achieve better knowledge of their bodies and health, self-care and fitness goals. This research has also shown that health apps and wearable devices can also demand invisible labour from users, while some people consider them to be overly intrusive 13–17. For some intended users, health apps or wearable devices are viewed as irrelevant, as they do not offer the information or support people need, or are viewed as being poorly designed for the specificities of people’s lives 13 18 19.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The Internet Both Reassures and Terrifies’: exploring the more-than-human worlds of health information using the story completion method

Lupton

2019

Med Humanities

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Lay people are now encouraged to be active in seeking health and medical information and acting on it to engage in self-care and preventive health practices. Over the past three decades, digital media offering ready access to health information resources have rapidly expanded. In this article, I discuss findings from my study that sought to investigate health information practices by bringing together the social research method of story completion with more-than-human theory and postqualitative inquiry. Narratives of health, illness and embodiment are powerful ways to portray people’s experiences and identify the shared cultural norms and discourses that give meaning and context to these experiences. The research method of story completion is a novel approach to eliciting narratives that involve participants’ responses to hypothetical situations. Participants were asked to use an online questionnaire format to complete three stories involving characters faced with a different health problem. This approach sought to identify the human and non-human enabling resources with which the characters engaged as they tried to address and resolve their problem, with a particular interest in how both digital technologies and non-digital resources were used. This analysis highlighted the affective and relational dimensions of humans’ enactments of health, illness and embodiment. The stories surfaced the relations of sense-making, embodiment and care and how they are distributed between humans and non-humans. Agential capacities were closed off by elements such as too much information online creating confusion or anxiety, self-consciousness about the appearance of one’s body, feelings of embarrassment and shame, or not wanting to appear to be too weak or vulnerable. Capacities for change, wellness and recovery were opened by finding helpful information, making connections with others and finding therapeutic spaces and places.

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“…There was also a high preference for adolescents with high anxiety/depression scores to include an anxiety/depression symptom assessment questionnaire, but research contradicts this finding. Specifically, they report that the predetermined options for characterizing situations were "too restrictive" or "quite imprecise" for some adolescents (Kenny et al, 2016), as was the case with the predetermined options on automatic thoughts, which contributed to increased anxiety (Tucker & Goodings, 2015). However, other research has praised mental health apps for their ability to increase users' emotional awareness (Morris et al, 2010;Kauer et al, 2012), which is a key parameter of cognitive-behavioural therapy (Clark, 2013), and by extension a prerequisite for effective user engagement (Ribanszki et al, 2021).…”

Section: Operation/contentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interests and Preferences of Adolescent Students in Greece for Content, Design and Functionality Features of an Innovative Mental Health Application for Anxiety and Depression Symptoms

Raftopoulou,

Dritsas

2023

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the interests and preferences of adolescent students for a mental health application for anxiety and depression, given the lack of previous studies. Combining the data of modern international literature and empirical research on the most common mental health problems in adolescence, anxiety and depression, and on the technological interventions in the field of mental health, the study focuses on applications. The findings presented high rates of anxiety and depression in adolescents, especially among girls, and high rates of correlation for these two mental health problems. In addition, adolescents reported some interest for the use of an application for anxiety and depression, which almost doubled with the presupposition of a mental health professional recommendation for this application. High preference was reported for features related to access, reliability, function/content, security, and personalization of the application. Lower preference was reported for features related to the user's social interaction with others (mental health professionals, peers) and for issues regarding the option of concealing the application on the smartphone. A deeper look into these findings revealed differences in the rates of anxiety and depression in relation to the level of interest and preference of the adolescents for some features of the application. Finally, on the basis of the above findings, the design of a mental health application for adolescents with anxiety and depression symptoms, "CALMA", is recommended.

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Managing stress through the Stress Free app: Practices of self-care in digitally mediated spaces

Cited by 9 publications

References 14 publications

Preferences for Digital Smartphone Mental Health Apps Among Adolescents: Qualitative Interview Study

Preferences for Digital Smartphone Mental Health Apps Among Adolescents: Qualitative Interview Study

‘The Internet Both Reassures and Terrifies’: exploring the more-than-human worlds of health information using the story completion method

Interests and Preferences of Adolescent Students in Greece for Content, Design and Functionality Features of an Innovative Mental Health Application for Anxiety and Depression Symptoms

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