Mental health apps in a college setting: openness, usage, and attitudes

Kern, Adam; Hong, Victor; Song, Joyce; Lipson, Sarah Ketchen; Eisenberg, Daniel

doi:10.21037/mhealth.2018.06.01

Cited by 88 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The use of phone apps within mental health care is on the rise, with more people preferring to communicate in this manner [ 18 , 23 ]. However, 1 recent study surveyed college students and found that only 26% reported that they would use mental health apps, with the majority (81%) preferring to talk to a person [ 64 ]. It has also been suggested that digital apps can help reduce barriers to face-to-face help-seeking, such as stigma and discomfort about discussing one’s own mental health [ 65 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Suicidal Ideation Using an Innovative Mobile App-Strength Within Me: The Usability and Acceptability of Setting up a Trial Involving Mobile Technology and Mental Health Service Users

et al. 2020

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Background Suicide is a growing global public health problem that has resulted in an increase in the demand for psychological services to address mental health issues. It is expected that 1 in 6 people on a waiting list for mental health services will attempt suicide. Although suicidal ideation has been shown to be linked to a higher risk of death by suicide, not everybody openly discloses their suicidal thoughts or plans to friends and family or seeks professional help before suicide. Therefore, new methods are needed to track suicide risk in real time together with a better understanding of the ways in which people communicate or express their suicidality. Considering the dynamic nature and challenges in understanding suicide ideation and suicide risk, mobile apps could be better suited to prevent suicide as they have the ability to collect real-time data. Objective This study aims to report the practicalities and acceptability of setting up and trialing digital technologies within an inpatient mental health setting in the United Kingdom and highlight their implications for future studies. Methods Service users were recruited from 6 inpatient wards in the north west of England. Service users who were eligible to participate and provided consent were given an iPhone and Fitbit for 7 days and were asked to interact with a novel phone app, Strength Within Me (SWiM). Interaction with the app involved journaling (recording daily activities, how this made them feel, and rating their mood) and the option to create safety plans for emotions causing difficulties (identifying strategies that helped with these emotions). Participants also had the option to allow the study to access their personal Facebook account to monitor their social media use and activity. In addition, clinical data (ie, assessments conducted by trained researchers targeting suicidality, depression, and sleep) were also collected. Results Overall, 43.0% (80/186 response rate) of eligible participants were recruited for the study. Of the total sample, 67 participants engaged in journaling, with the average number of entries per user being 8.2 (SD 8.7). Overall, only 24 participants created safety plans and the most common difficult emotion to be selected was feeling sad (n=21). This study reports on the engagement with the SWiM app, the technical difficulties the research team faced, the importance of building key relationships, and the implications of using Facebook as a source to detect suicidality. Conclusions To develop interventions that can be delivered in a timely manner, prediction of suicidality must be given priority. This paper has raised important issues and highlighted lessons learned from implementing a novel mobile app to detect the risk of suicidality for service users in an inpatient setting.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Suicidal Ideation Using an Innovative Mobile App-Strength Within Me: The Usability and Acceptability of Setting up a Trial Involving Mobile Technology and Mental Health Service Users

et al. 2020

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“…In one study, although a small number of students had used a mental health app, more than one-fourth were open to using an app. At the same time, students were largely unsure of whether mental health apps were evidence based and voiced concerns about the efficacy and impersonal nature of apps [ 5 ]. This suggests that acceptability is a key factor to investigate when researching mental health apps for college students; students may find apps with clear research evidence or apps tailored to their specific needs more acceptable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining an App-Based Mental Health Self-Care Program, IntelliCare for College Students: Single-Arm Pilot Study

Lattie¹,

Cohen²,

Winquist³

et al. 2020

JMIR Ment Health

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Background In recent years, there has been an increase in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses in college student populations alongside a steady rise in the demand for counseling services. Digital mental health programs, such as those delivered through mobile apps, can add to the array of available services but must be tested for usability and acceptability before implementation. Objective This study aims to examine how students used IntelliCare for College Students over an 8-week period to examine the preliminary associations between app use and psychosocial targets and to gather user feedback about usability issues that need to be remedied before a larger implementation study. Methods IntelliCare for College Students is an app-based platform that provides symptom assessments with personalized feedback, information about campus resources, lessons on mental health and wellness topics, and access to the suite of interactive skill–focused IntelliCare apps. A total of 20 students were recruited to participate in an 8-week study. To test for a broad range of potential users, we recruited a mixed sample of students with elevated symptoms of depression or anxiety and students without elevated symptoms. Participants completed psychosocial questionnaires at baseline, week 4, and week 8. Participants also completed user feedback interviews at weeks 4 and 8 in which they provided feedback on their experience using the app and suggestions for changes they would like to be made to the app. Results Of the 20 students who downloaded the app, 19 completed the study, indicating a high rate of retention. Over the study period, participants completed an average of 5.85 (SD 2.1; range 1-8) symptom assessments. Significant improvements were observed in the Anxiety Literacy Questionnaire scores (Z=−2.006; P=.045) and in the frequency with which participants used both cognitive (Z=−2.091; P=.04) and behavioral (Z=−2.249; P=.03) coping skills. In the feedback interviews, we identified a high degree of usability with minor bugs in the app software, which were quickly fixed. Furthermore, in feedback interviews, we identified that users found the app to be convenient and appreciated the ability to use the program in short bursts of time. Conclusions The findings indicate that the IntelliCare for College Students program was perceived as largely usable and engaging. Although the program demonstrated usability and preliminary benefits to students, further testing is needed to determine its clinical utility among college students. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04035577; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04035577

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“…College students and young adults are rarely without their phones, using them for several facets of their lives, generally through mobile apps. Some research suggests that college students would rather use in-person resources than web-based resources for mental health; however, college students are likely to use web-based resources because of their availability, convenience, and confidentiality [ 13 - 15 ]. Mobile apps for mental health services can provide users with additional benefits that seeking face-to-face help does not provide, such as its relatively low cost for care and the lack of stigma from seeking in-person treatment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When examining college students’ openness and attitudes toward using mental health apps in a college setting, researchers found that 26.1% of college students were open to using mental health apps; however, only 7.3% had ever used such an app before [ 13 ]. The relatively low rate of mental health app adoption was attributed to participants having no current mental health needs, perceptions that mental health apps felt too impersonal, confidentiality concerns, and the utility of the apps [ 13 , 30 ]. Similar to the general population, college students have also tended to use mobile apps for mental health for short periods (≤4 weeks), although it is unknown if this short-term adoption can be attributed to feeling better, poor app design, student workload, or something else [ 13 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceptions and Attitudes Toward a Mobile Phone App for Mental Health for College Students: Qualitative Focus Group Study

Holtz¹,

McCarroll²,

Mitchell³

2020

JMIR Form Res

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Background Many college students who have mental health issues do not receive professional care for various reasons. Students who do not receive help often have both short- and long-term adverse health outcomes. Mobile apps for mental health services such as MySSP, a service provided to college students through their university, may help eliminate barriers to seeking mental health care and result in more positive outcomes for college students. Objective This qualitative study aims to better understand college students’ perceptions and attitudes toward the adoption and use of a mobile phone app for mental health, MySSP, using the technology acceptance model (TAM). Methods A series of nine focus groups were conducted with college students (N=30) between February and May 2019 at a large, public Midwestern university. The moderator’s guide was based on the TAM, and focus group sessions primarily focused on the use and knowledge of apps for mental health, specifically, MySSP. The focus group transcriptions were hand-coded to develop a set of themes that encompassed students’ perceptions and attitudes toward MySSP. Results The analysis of the focus groups suggested the following themes: (1) existing awareness of the app, (2) perceived usefulness, (3) perceived ease of use, (4) attitudes toward apps for mental health and MySSP, and (5) social influence. Conclusions The results of this study provide deeper insights into the perceptions of a mobile app for mental health among college students. Future research should explore the specific contexts in which an app for mental health will be most effective for college students.

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Mental health apps in a college setting: openness, usage, and attitudes

Cited by 88 publications

References 28 publications

Exploring Suicidal Ideation Using an Innovative Mobile App-Strength Within Me: The Usability and Acceptability of Setting up a Trial Involving Mobile Technology and Mental Health Service Users

Exploring Suicidal Ideation Using an Innovative Mobile App-Strength Within Me: The Usability and Acceptability of Setting up a Trial Involving Mobile Technology and Mental Health Service Users

Examining an App-Based Mental Health Self-Care Program, IntelliCare for College Students: Single-Arm Pilot Study

Perceptions and Attitudes Toward a Mobile Phone App for Mental Health for College Students: Qualitative Focus Group Study

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