Cargando…

The Digital Psychiatrist: In Search of Evidence-Based Apps for Anxiety and Depression

One of the biggest growth areas in e-mental health resources has been the development and use of mobile mental health apps for smartphones and tablet devices. Such apps are being downloaded at increasing rates, but there have been questions about their efficacy and the research methodologies used to...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Marshall, Jamie M., Dunstan, Debra A., Bartik, Warren
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6872533/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31803083
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00831
_version_ 1783472504007819264
author Marshall, Jamie M.
Dunstan, Debra A.
Bartik, Warren
author_facet Marshall, Jamie M.
Dunstan, Debra A.
Bartik, Warren
author_sort Marshall, Jamie M.
collection PubMed
description One of the biggest growth areas in e-mental health resources has been the development and use of mobile mental health apps for smartphones and tablet devices. Such apps are being downloaded at increasing rates, but there have been questions about their efficacy and the research methodologies used to examine this. A review of the major app marketplaces, the Apple App Store and Google Play store, was conducted to locate apps claiming to offer a therapeutic treatment for depression and/or anxiety, and have research evidence for their effectiveness, according to their app store descriptions. App store descriptions were also analyzed to determine whether the app had been developed with mental health expert input; whether they had been developed in association with a government body, academic institution, or medical facility; and, whether or not they were free to download. Overall, 3.41% of apps had research to justify their claims of effectiveness, with the majority of that research undertaken by those involved in the development of the app. Other results indicated that 30.38% of shortlisted apps claimed to have expert development input; 20.48% had an affiliation with a government body, academic institution, or medical facility; and, 74.06% were free to download. Future research must consider other methodologies that may facilitate more research being completed on a greater number of apps, and future development needs to incorporate greater levels of input by mental health experts. Ways in which app stores could play a key role in encouraging more scientific research into the effectiveness of the mental health apps they sell are discussed.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6872533
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-68725332019-12-04 The Digital Psychiatrist: In Search of Evidence-Based Apps for Anxiety and Depression Marshall, Jamie M. Dunstan, Debra A. Bartik, Warren Front Psychiatry Psychiatry One of the biggest growth areas in e-mental health resources has been the development and use of mobile mental health apps for smartphones and tablet devices. Such apps are being downloaded at increasing rates, but there have been questions about their efficacy and the research methodologies used to examine this. A review of the major app marketplaces, the Apple App Store and Google Play store, was conducted to locate apps claiming to offer a therapeutic treatment for depression and/or anxiety, and have research evidence for their effectiveness, according to their app store descriptions. App store descriptions were also analyzed to determine whether the app had been developed with mental health expert input; whether they had been developed in association with a government body, academic institution, or medical facility; and, whether or not they were free to download. Overall, 3.41% of apps had research to justify their claims of effectiveness, with the majority of that research undertaken by those involved in the development of the app. Other results indicated that 30.38% of shortlisted apps claimed to have expert development input; 20.48% had an affiliation with a government body, academic institution, or medical facility; and, 74.06% were free to download. Future research must consider other methodologies that may facilitate more research being completed on a greater number of apps, and future development needs to incorporate greater levels of input by mental health experts. Ways in which app stores could play a key role in encouraging more scientific research into the effectiveness of the mental health apps they sell are discussed. Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-11-15 /pmc/articles/PMC6872533/ /pubmed/31803083 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00831 Text en Copyright © 2019 Marshall, Dunstan and Bartik http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Marshall, Jamie M.
Dunstan, Debra A.
Bartik, Warren
The Digital Psychiatrist: In Search of Evidence-Based Apps for Anxiety and Depression
title The Digital Psychiatrist: In Search of Evidence-Based Apps for Anxiety and Depression
title_full The Digital Psychiatrist: In Search of Evidence-Based Apps for Anxiety and Depression
title_fullStr The Digital Psychiatrist: In Search of Evidence-Based Apps for Anxiety and Depression
title_full_unstemmed The Digital Psychiatrist: In Search of Evidence-Based Apps for Anxiety and Depression
title_short The Digital Psychiatrist: In Search of Evidence-Based Apps for Anxiety and Depression
title_sort digital psychiatrist: in search of evidence-based apps for anxiety and depression
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6872533/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31803083
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00831
work_keys_str_mv AT marshalljamiem thedigitalpsychiatristinsearchofevidencebasedappsforanxietyanddepression
AT dunstandebraa thedigitalpsychiatristinsearchofevidencebasedappsforanxietyanddepression
AT bartikwarren thedigitalpsychiatristinsearchofevidencebasedappsforanxietyanddepression
AT marshalljamiem digitalpsychiatristinsearchofevidencebasedappsforanxietyanddepression
AT dunstandebraa digitalpsychiatristinsearchofevidencebasedappsforanxietyanddepression
AT bartikwarren digitalpsychiatristinsearchofevidencebasedappsforanxietyanddepression