Mobile Apps That Promote Emotion Regulation, Positive Mental Health, and Well-being in the General Population: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Eisenstadt, Mia; Liverpool, Shaun; Infanti, Elisa; Ciuvat, Roberta Maria; Carlsson, Courtney

doi:10.2196/31170

Cited by 86 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…Various interventions to improve PMH exist in a variety of modalities, including individual, group and online formats, but targeting the general population (Bolier et al, 2013 ; Teixeira et al, 2019 ; Eisenstadt et al, 2021 ). However, no evidence-based intervention research on PMH in the psychotic disorder population has been found.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mental Health of Patients With Psychotic Disorder From a Positive, Multidimensional and Recovery Perspective

et al. 2022

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Positive mental health (PMH) and mental illness are distinct, yet interrelated, constructs. However, this relationship has yet to be adequately established. We aimed to evaluate the level of PMH and its relationship with sociodemographic and clinical determinants as well as to explore the relationship between PMH and the positive constructs of recovery, subjective wellbeing (SWB), insight and functioning in patients with psychotic disorder. A multicenter, descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational study with a sample of 347 patients with psychotic disorder was conducted. The following assessment instruments were used: Positive Mental Health Questionnaire, Maryland Assessment of Recovery in Serious Mental Illness scale, Insight Scale, Personal Wellbeing Index-Adult version (PWI-A), Overall Life Satisfaction (OLS) and Global Assessment of Functioning scale. The mean global level of PMH was 116.16 (range of 39–156, SD = 19.39). Significant differences were found in PMH in relation to sociodemographic (sex, civil status and employment situation) and clinical variables (family history of mental disorders, number of prescribed antipsychotics, treatment with anxiolytics, treatment with antidepressants and suicide attempts). PMH was significantly and positively correlated with recovery (r = 0.760), SWB (PWI-A: r = 0.728 and OLS: r = 0.602) and functioning (r = 0.243), and negatively with insight (r = −0.335). These results can lead to a major change in mental health care. If actions are taken to increase PMH, then recovery, SWB and functioning will also increase. At the same time, interventions should be carried out to boost insight, since increasing PMH could decrease insight, all resulting in better quality of life for patients with psychotic disorder.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mental Health of Patients With Psychotic Disorder From a Positive, Multidimensional and Recovery Perspective

et al. 2022

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“…Emotion dysregulation is hypothesized to underpin a wide range of psychological difficulties [ 81 ]; in fact, transdiagnostic interventions, such as DBT or the Unified Protocol [ 82 ], focus on emotion dysregulation as the primary treatment target. Notably, however, emotion regulation is rarely included as an outcome variable in mobile mental health programs, despite its empirical and theoretical relevance to mental health and well-being [ 19 ]. In two studies of mHealth programs conducted with young adults [ 83 ] and homeless youth [ 84 ] that measured emotion regulation as an outcome variable, results showed no significant improvements in emotion regulation capacity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Future studies should use causal methods to explore this further. In addition, the sample was primarily female, White, and highly educated, which is typical of studies of mobile mental health programs [ 19 ]. Future research should evaluate to what extent these results would generalize to other populations and actively recruit from hard-to-reach populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years, there has been a proliferation of interest in and development of mobile mental health programs. Use of these programs has tripled in recent years [ 18 ], and multiple reviews suggest that mobile mental health apps have the capacity to improve mental health and emotion regulation in the general population [ 19 , 20 ]. Mobile mental health has the potential to address many of the aforementioned barriers to treatment [ 21 , 22 ]; perhaps most importantly, mobile mental health allows for support or psychoeducation that is not restricted by time, location, or provider availability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Outcomes of a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy–Based Mobile Mental Well-being Program (Noom Mood): Single-Arm Prospective Cohort Study

McCallum¹,

Ho²,

Mitchell³

et al. 2022

JMIR Form Res

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Background The prevalence of anxiety, depression, and general distress has risen in recent years. Mobile mental health programs have been found to provide support to nonclinical populations and may overcome some of the barriers associated with traditional in-person treatment; however, researchers have voiced concerns that many publicly available mobile mental health programs lack evidence-based theoretical foundations, peer-reviewed research, and sufficient engagement from the public. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of Noom Mood, a commercial mobile cognitive behavioral therapy– and mindfulness-based program. Methods In this single-arm prospective cohort study, individuals who joined Noom Mood between August and October 2021 completed surveys at baseline and 4-week follow-up. Per-protocol analyses included those who completed both surveys (n=113), and intention-to-treat analyses included all participants (N=185). Results A majority of the sample reported that the program is easy to use, they felt confident recommending the program to a friend, and they perceived the program to be effective at improving stress and anxiety. There were significant improvements in anxiety symptoms, perceived stress, depressive feelings, emotion regulation, and optimism in both the per-protocol and intention-to-treat analyses (all P<.001). Participants reported benefiting most from learning skills (eg, breathing and cognitive reframing techniques), interacting with the program features, and gaining awareness of their emotions and thought patterns. Participants also made a number of suggestions to improve product functionality and usability. Conclusions Results suggest that Noom Mood is feasible and acceptable to participants, with promising preliminary outcomes. Future studies should build on these results to evaluate the effects of Noom Mood using more rigorous designs.

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“…Most studies of commercially available mental health apps focus on whether the app increases well-being or decreases mental health symptoms [14,15]. However, researchers have yet to identify the emotional and cognitive processes by which mental health apps may influence wellbeing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Differing Audiences Were Associated with User Emotional Expression on a Well-Being App

Topitzer

Kou

Kasumba

et al. 2022

Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies

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In the last five years, there has been an explosion of mobile apps that aim to impact emotional well-being, yet limited research has examined the ways that users interact, and specifically write to develop a therapeutic alliance within these apps. Writing is a developmental practice in which a narrator transforms amorphous thoughts and emotions into expressions, and according to narrative theory, the linguistic characteristics of writing can be understood as a physical manifestation of a narrator’s affect. Informed by literacy theorists who have argued convincingly that narrators address different audiences in different ways, we used IBM Watson’s Natural Language Processing software (IBM Watson NLP) to examine how users expression of emotion on a well-being app differed depending on the audience. Our findings demonstrate that audience was strongly associated with the way users expressed emotions in writing. When writing to an explicit audience users wrote longer narratives, with less sadness, less anger, less disgust, less fear, and more joy, these findings have direct relevance for researchers and well-being app design.

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Mobile Apps That Promote Emotion Regulation, Positive Mental Health, and Well-being in the General Population: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract: Studies captured app usage or engagement data in a range of ways. Less than half of the total studies collected objective app usage data (e.g. time spent using the app or time spent using specific app

Cited by 86 publications

References 98 publications

The Mental Health of Patients With Psychotic Disorder From a Positive, Multidimensional and Recovery Perspective

The Mental Health of Patients With Psychotic Disorder From a Positive, Multidimensional and Recovery Perspective

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Outcomes of a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy–Based Mobile Mental Well-being Program (Noom Mood): Single-Arm Prospective Cohort Study

How Differing Audiences Were Associated with User Emotional Expression on a Well-Being App

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