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Digital Tools to Ameliorate Psychological Symptoms Associated With COVID-19: Scoping Review
BACKGROUND: In the four months after the discovery of the index case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), several studies highlighted the psychological impact of COVID-19 on frontline health care workers and on members of the general public. It is evident from these studies that individuals experience...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
JMIR Publications
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7446713/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32721922 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/19706 |
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author | Zhang, Melvyn Smith, Helen Elizabeth |
author_facet | Zhang, Melvyn Smith, Helen Elizabeth |
author_sort | Zhang, Melvyn |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: In the four months after the discovery of the index case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), several studies highlighted the psychological impact of COVID-19 on frontline health care workers and on members of the general public. It is evident from these studies that individuals experienced elevated levels of anxiety and depression in the acute phase, when they first became aware of the pandemic, and that the psychological distress persisted into subsequent weeks. It is becoming apparent that technological tools such as SMS text messages, web-based interventions, mobile interventions, and conversational agents can help ameliorate psychological distress in the workplace and in society. To our knowledge, there are few publications describing how digital tools have been used to ameliorate psychological symptoms among individuals. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review was to identify existing SMS text message, web-based, mobile, and conversational agents that the general public can access to ameliorate the psychological symptoms they are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: To identify digital tools that were published specifically for COVID-19, a search was performed in the PubMed and MEDLINE databases from the inception of the databases through June 17, 2020. The following search strings were used: “NCOV OR 2019-nCoV OR SARS-CoV-2 OR Coronavirus OR COVID19 OR COVID” and “mHealth OR eHealth OR text”. Another search was conducted in PubMed and MEDLINE to identify existing digital tools for depression and anxiety disorders. A web-based search engine (Google) was used to identify if the cited web-based interventions could be accessed. A mobile app search engine, App Annie, was used to determine if the identified mobile apps were commercially available. Results: A total of 6 studies were identified. Of the 6 identified web-based interventions, 5 websites (83%) could be accessed. Of the 32 identified mobile interventions, 7 apps (22%) could be accessed. Of the 7 identified conversational agents, only 2 (29%) could be accessed. RESULTS: A total of 6 studies were identified. Of the 6 identified web-based interventions, 5 websites (83%) could be accessed. Of the 32 identified mobile interventions, 7 apps (22%) could be accessed. Of the 7 identified conversational agents, only 2 (29%) could be accessed. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant psychological distress. Digital tools that are commercially available may be useful for at-risk individuals or individuals with pre-existing psychiatric symptoms. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7446713 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | JMIR Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-74467132020-08-31 Digital Tools to Ameliorate Psychological Symptoms Associated With COVID-19: Scoping Review Zhang, Melvyn Smith, Helen Elizabeth J Med Internet Res Review BACKGROUND: In the four months after the discovery of the index case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), several studies highlighted the psychological impact of COVID-19 on frontline health care workers and on members of the general public. It is evident from these studies that individuals experienced elevated levels of anxiety and depression in the acute phase, when they first became aware of the pandemic, and that the psychological distress persisted into subsequent weeks. It is becoming apparent that technological tools such as SMS text messages, web-based interventions, mobile interventions, and conversational agents can help ameliorate psychological distress in the workplace and in society. To our knowledge, there are few publications describing how digital tools have been used to ameliorate psychological symptoms among individuals. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review was to identify existing SMS text message, web-based, mobile, and conversational agents that the general public can access to ameliorate the psychological symptoms they are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: To identify digital tools that were published specifically for COVID-19, a search was performed in the PubMed and MEDLINE databases from the inception of the databases through June 17, 2020. The following search strings were used: “NCOV OR 2019-nCoV OR SARS-CoV-2 OR Coronavirus OR COVID19 OR COVID” and “mHealth OR eHealth OR text”. Another search was conducted in PubMed and MEDLINE to identify existing digital tools for depression and anxiety disorders. A web-based search engine (Google) was used to identify if the cited web-based interventions could be accessed. A mobile app search engine, App Annie, was used to determine if the identified mobile apps were commercially available. Results: A total of 6 studies were identified. Of the 6 identified web-based interventions, 5 websites (83%) could be accessed. Of the 32 identified mobile interventions, 7 apps (22%) could be accessed. Of the 7 identified conversational agents, only 2 (29%) could be accessed. RESULTS: A total of 6 studies were identified. Of the 6 identified web-based interventions, 5 websites (83%) could be accessed. Of the 32 identified mobile interventions, 7 apps (22%) could be accessed. Of the 7 identified conversational agents, only 2 (29%) could be accessed. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant psychological distress. Digital tools that are commercially available may be useful for at-risk individuals or individuals with pre-existing psychiatric symptoms. JMIR Publications 2020-08-21 /pmc/articles/PMC7446713/ /pubmed/32721922 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/19706 Text en ©Melvyn Zhang, Helen Elizabeth Smith. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 21.08.2020. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. |
spellingShingle | Review Zhang, Melvyn Smith, Helen Elizabeth Digital Tools to Ameliorate Psychological Symptoms Associated With COVID-19: Scoping Review |
title | Digital Tools to Ameliorate Psychological Symptoms Associated With COVID-19: Scoping Review |
title_full | Digital Tools to Ameliorate Psychological Symptoms Associated With COVID-19: Scoping Review |
title_fullStr | Digital Tools to Ameliorate Psychological Symptoms Associated With COVID-19: Scoping Review |
title_full_unstemmed | Digital Tools to Ameliorate Psychological Symptoms Associated With COVID-19: Scoping Review |
title_short | Digital Tools to Ameliorate Psychological Symptoms Associated With COVID-19: Scoping Review |
title_sort | digital tools to ameliorate psychological symptoms associated with covid-19: scoping review |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7446713/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32721922 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/19706 |
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