User Engagement and Usability of Suicide Prevention Apps: Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis
BACKGROUND: People with suicidal thoughts are more inclined to seek technology-delivered interventions than in-person forms of treatment, making mobile apps for suicide prevention an ideal platform for treatment delivery. This review examines apps designed for suicide prevention, with a specific foc...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
JMIR Publications
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8319780/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34259163 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/27018 |
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author | Wilks, Chelsey R Chu, Carol Sim, DongGun Lovell, Josh Gutierrez, Peter Joiner, Thomas Kessler, Ronald C Nock, Matthew K |
author_facet | Wilks, Chelsey R Chu, Carol Sim, DongGun Lovell, Josh Gutierrez, Peter Joiner, Thomas Kessler, Ronald C Nock, Matthew K |
author_sort | Wilks, Chelsey R |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: People with suicidal thoughts are more inclined to seek technology-delivered interventions than in-person forms of treatment, making mobile apps for suicide prevention an ideal platform for treatment delivery. This review examines apps designed for suicide prevention, with a specific focus on user engagement. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to update the literature and broadly evaluate the landscape of mobile health apps for suicide prevention; examine apps with key features and primary approaches to suicide prevention; and systematically evaluate the engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and information of the apps. METHODS: All apps related to suicidal thoughts and behaviors were identified in the Google Play and iOS app stores and were systematically reviewed for their content and quality. The mobile app rating scale (MARS) was used to evaluate app usability and engagement. RESULTS: Of the 66 apps identified, 42 (64%) were specifically designed for people with suicidal ideation, and 59 (89%) had at least one best practice feature for suicide risk reduction. The mean overall MARS score of all apps was 3.5 (range 2.1-4.5), with 83% (55/66) of apps having a minimum acceptability score of 3. The total MARS score was not associated with the user app rating (r=−0.001; P=.99) or the number of features (r=0.24; P=.09). CONCLUSIONS: This study identified many usable and engaging apps in app stores designed for suicide prevention. However, there are only limited apps for clinicians. Thus, mobile apps for suicide prevention should be carefully developed and clinically evaluated. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8319780 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | JMIR Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83197802021-08-11 User Engagement and Usability of Suicide Prevention Apps: Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis Wilks, Chelsey R Chu, Carol Sim, DongGun Lovell, Josh Gutierrez, Peter Joiner, Thomas Kessler, Ronald C Nock, Matthew K JMIR Form Res Original Paper BACKGROUND: People with suicidal thoughts are more inclined to seek technology-delivered interventions than in-person forms of treatment, making mobile apps for suicide prevention an ideal platform for treatment delivery. This review examines apps designed for suicide prevention, with a specific focus on user engagement. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to update the literature and broadly evaluate the landscape of mobile health apps for suicide prevention; examine apps with key features and primary approaches to suicide prevention; and systematically evaluate the engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and information of the apps. METHODS: All apps related to suicidal thoughts and behaviors were identified in the Google Play and iOS app stores and were systematically reviewed for their content and quality. The mobile app rating scale (MARS) was used to evaluate app usability and engagement. RESULTS: Of the 66 apps identified, 42 (64%) were specifically designed for people with suicidal ideation, and 59 (89%) had at least one best practice feature for suicide risk reduction. The mean overall MARS score of all apps was 3.5 (range 2.1-4.5), with 83% (55/66) of apps having a minimum acceptability score of 3. The total MARS score was not associated with the user app rating (r=−0.001; P=.99) or the number of features (r=0.24; P=.09). CONCLUSIONS: This study identified many usable and engaging apps in app stores designed for suicide prevention. However, there are only limited apps for clinicians. Thus, mobile apps for suicide prevention should be carefully developed and clinically evaluated. JMIR Publications 2021-07-14 /pmc/articles/PMC8319780/ /pubmed/34259163 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/27018 Text en ©Chelsey R Wilks, Carol Chu, DongGun Sim, Josh Lovell, Peter Gutierrez, Thomas Joiner, Ronald C Kessler, Matthew K Nock. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 14.07.2021. 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 JMIR Formative Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://formative.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. |
spellingShingle | Original Paper Wilks, Chelsey R Chu, Carol Sim, DongGun Lovell, Josh Gutierrez, Peter Joiner, Thomas Kessler, Ronald C Nock, Matthew K User Engagement and Usability of Suicide Prevention Apps: Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis |
title | User Engagement and Usability of Suicide Prevention Apps: Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis |
title_full | User Engagement and Usability of Suicide Prevention Apps: Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis |
title_fullStr | User Engagement and Usability of Suicide Prevention Apps: Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis |
title_full_unstemmed | User Engagement and Usability of Suicide Prevention Apps: Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis |
title_short | User Engagement and Usability of Suicide Prevention Apps: Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis |
title_sort | user engagement and usability of suicide prevention apps: systematic search in app stores and content analysis |
topic | Original Paper |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8319780/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34259163 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/27018 |
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