Evidence-Based Mental Health· 2018· Review
Clinical review of user engagement with mental health smartphone apps: evidence, theory and improvements
- 889citations
- 2018year
Short summary
Mental health apps show low real-world uptake because they are not designed with users in mind, fail to address key concerns like privacy and trustworthiness, and are unhelpful in emergencies.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Mental health apps are not designed with service users' needs and priorities in mind.
- Key barriers to engagement include privacy concerns, lack of trustworthiness, and unhelpfulness in emergencies.
- Current engagement metrics in the literature are inconsistent, hindering trend identification.
- Successful examples of high-engagement mental health apps exist and offer potential solutions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
The potential of smartphone apps to improve quality and increase access to mental health care is increasingly clear. Yet even in the current global mental health crisis, real-world uptake of smartphone apps by clinics or consumers remains low. To understand this dichotomy, this paper reviews current challenges surrounding user engagement with mental health smartphone apps. While smartphone engagement metrics and reporting remains heterogeneous in the literature, focusing on themes offers a framework to identify underlying trends. These themes suggest that apps are not designed with service users in mind, do not solve problems users care most about, do not respect privacy, are not seen as trustworthy and are unhelpful in emergencies. Respecting these current issues surrounding mental health app engagement, we propose several solutions and highlight successful examples of mental health apps with high engagement. Further research is necessary to better characterise engagement with mental health apps and identify best practices for design, testing and implementation.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Evidence-Based Mental Health, 2018 · DOI ↗
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Field: Applied Psychology
Applied PsychologyPsychology