Issues in Child and Adolescent Inpatient Assessment and Evaluation After Discharge: Protocol for App Development and a Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: New methods are needed for collecting data of in- and outpatients and for improving outpatient compliance after discharge. Mobile technologies, such as smartphone apps, have shown promising results, (eg, helping unwell people by offering support and resources). Screening for the condition, including comorbidities, is a vital part of psychiatric care. Comorbid conditions, especially in emergency evaluation, are often missed, leading to inaccurate diagnosis and treatment. One way of improving diagnostic accuracy is to use a structured diagnostic process. Digitalized screening and follow-up have the advantage of making administration and scoring easier and less time consuming, thereby increasing response rate. To address these problems, we decided to create a smartphone app called The Blue App. The Blue App was developed through 6 steps, described in the manuscript. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to describe (1) the development of The Blue App and (2) 2 planned research studies to evaluate the app. METHODS: Two studies will be performed. Study 1 has a descriptive design, mapping comorbidities before and after the introduction of The Blue App. Study 2 has a randomized controlled design, measuring compliance with outpatient treatments as well as depressive symptoms, rated as changes in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Scale scores during a 1-year follow-up. RESULTS: We have described app development. Data collection for Study 1 started in autumn 2017. Study 2 will start in autumn 2018. We expect to have enrolled the 150 patients in Study 2 by December 2019. Final results will be published in a scientific journal. CONCLUSIONS: A technically advanced and easy-to-use Web-based mobile phone app corresponding to the unit’s needs was developed, and 2 studies are planned to evaluate its usefulness. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR1-10.2196/10121