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PTSD Coach Version 3.1: A Closer Look at the Reach, Use, and Potential Impact of This Updated Mobile Health App in the General Public

BACKGROUND: With widespread smartphone ownership, mobile health apps (mHealth) can expand access to evidence-based interventions for mental health conditions, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research to evaluate new features and capabilities in these apps is critical but lags behind...

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Autores principales: Hallenbeck, Haijing Wu, Jaworski, Beth K, Wielgosz, Joseph, Kuhn, Eric, Ramsey, Kelly M, Taylor, Katherine, Juhasz, Katherine, McGee-Vincent, Pearl, Mackintosh, Margaret-Anne, Owen, Jason E
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9006138/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35348458
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/34744
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author Hallenbeck, Haijing Wu
Jaworski, Beth K
Wielgosz, Joseph
Kuhn, Eric
Ramsey, Kelly M
Taylor, Katherine
Juhasz, Katherine
McGee-Vincent, Pearl
Mackintosh, Margaret-Anne
Owen, Jason E
author_facet Hallenbeck, Haijing Wu
Jaworski, Beth K
Wielgosz, Joseph
Kuhn, Eric
Ramsey, Kelly M
Taylor, Katherine
Juhasz, Katherine
McGee-Vincent, Pearl
Mackintosh, Margaret-Anne
Owen, Jason E
author_sort Hallenbeck, Haijing Wu
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: With widespread smartphone ownership, mobile health apps (mHealth) can expand access to evidence-based interventions for mental health conditions, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research to evaluate new features and capabilities in these apps is critical but lags behind app development. The initial release of PTSD Coach, a free self-management app developed by the US Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense, was found to have a positive public health impact. However, major stakeholder-driven updates to the app have yet to be evaluated. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to characterize the reach, use, and potential impact of PTSD Coach Version 3.1 in the general public. As part of characterizing use, we investigated the use of specific app features, which extended previous work on PTSD Coach. METHODS: We examined the naturalistic use of PTSD Coach during a 1-year observation period between April 20, 2020, and April 19, 2021, using anonymous in-app event data to generate summary metrics for users. RESULTS: During the observation period, PTSD Coach was broadly disseminated to the public, reaching approximately 150,000 total users and 20,000 users per month. On average, users used the app 3 times across 3 separate days for 18 minutes in total, with steep drop-offs in use over time; a subset of users, however, demonstrated high or sustained engagement. More than half of users (79,099/128,691, 61.46%) accessed one or more main content areas of the app (ie, Manage Symptoms, Track Progress, Learn, or Get Support). Among content areas, features under Manage Symptoms (including coping tools) were accessed most frequently, by over 40% of users (53,314/128,691, 41.43% to 56,971/128,691, 44.27%, depending on the feature). Users who provided initial distress ratings (56,971/128,691, 44.27%) reported relatively high momentary distress (mean 6.03, SD 2.52, on a scale of 0-10), and the use of a coping tool modestly improved momentary distress (mean −1.38, SD 1.70). Among users who completed at least one PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) assessment (17,589/128,691, 13.67%), PTSD symptoms were largely above the clinical threshold (mean 49.80, SD 16.36). Among users who completed at least two PCL-5 assessments (4989/128,691, 3.88%), PTSD symptoms decreased from the first to last assessment (mean −4.35, SD 15.29), with approximately one-third (1585/4989, 31.77%) of these users experiencing clinically significant improvements. CONCLUSIONS: PTSD Coach continues to fulfill its mission as a public health resource. Version 3.1 compares favorably with version 1 on most metrics related to reach, use, and potential impact. Although benefits appear modest on an individual basis, the app provides these benefits to a large population. For mHealth apps to reach their full potential in supporting trauma recovery, future research should aim to understand the utility of individual app features and identify strategies to maximize overall effectiveness and engagement.
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spelling pubmed-90061382022-04-14 PTSD Coach Version 3.1: A Closer Look at the Reach, Use, and Potential Impact of This Updated Mobile Health App in the General Public Hallenbeck, Haijing Wu Jaworski, Beth K Wielgosz, Joseph Kuhn, Eric Ramsey, Kelly M Taylor, Katherine Juhasz, Katherine McGee-Vincent, Pearl Mackintosh, Margaret-Anne Owen, Jason E JMIR Ment Health Original Paper BACKGROUND: With widespread smartphone ownership, mobile health apps (mHealth) can expand access to evidence-based interventions for mental health conditions, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research to evaluate new features and capabilities in these apps is critical but lags behind app development. The initial release of PTSD Coach, a free self-management app developed by the US Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense, was found to have a positive public health impact. However, major stakeholder-driven updates to the app have yet to be evaluated. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to characterize the reach, use, and potential impact of PTSD Coach Version 3.1 in the general public. As part of characterizing use, we investigated the use of specific app features, which extended previous work on PTSD Coach. METHODS: We examined the naturalistic use of PTSD Coach during a 1-year observation period between April 20, 2020, and April 19, 2021, using anonymous in-app event data to generate summary metrics for users. RESULTS: During the observation period, PTSD Coach was broadly disseminated to the public, reaching approximately 150,000 total users and 20,000 users per month. On average, users used the app 3 times across 3 separate days for 18 minutes in total, with steep drop-offs in use over time; a subset of users, however, demonstrated high or sustained engagement. More than half of users (79,099/128,691, 61.46%) accessed one or more main content areas of the app (ie, Manage Symptoms, Track Progress, Learn, or Get Support). Among content areas, features under Manage Symptoms (including coping tools) were accessed most frequently, by over 40% of users (53,314/128,691, 41.43% to 56,971/128,691, 44.27%, depending on the feature). Users who provided initial distress ratings (56,971/128,691, 44.27%) reported relatively high momentary distress (mean 6.03, SD 2.52, on a scale of 0-10), and the use of a coping tool modestly improved momentary distress (mean −1.38, SD 1.70). Among users who completed at least one PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) assessment (17,589/128,691, 13.67%), PTSD symptoms were largely above the clinical threshold (mean 49.80, SD 16.36). Among users who completed at least two PCL-5 assessments (4989/128,691, 3.88%), PTSD symptoms decreased from the first to last assessment (mean −4.35, SD 15.29), with approximately one-third (1585/4989, 31.77%) of these users experiencing clinically significant improvements. CONCLUSIONS: PTSD Coach continues to fulfill its mission as a public health resource. Version 3.1 compares favorably with version 1 on most metrics related to reach, use, and potential impact. Although benefits appear modest on an individual basis, the app provides these benefits to a large population. For mHealth apps to reach their full potential in supporting trauma recovery, future research should aim to understand the utility of individual app features and identify strategies to maximize overall effectiveness and engagement. JMIR Publications 2022-03-29 /pmc/articles/PMC9006138/ /pubmed/35348458 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/34744 Text en ©Haijing Wu Hallenbeck, Beth K Jaworski, Joseph Wielgosz, Eric Kuhn, Kelly M Ramsey, Katherine Taylor, Katherine Juhasz, Pearl McGee-Vincent, Margaret-Anne Mackintosh, Jason E Owen. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (https://mental.jmir.org), 29.03.2022. 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 Mental Health, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://mental.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Hallenbeck, Haijing Wu
Jaworski, Beth K
Wielgosz, Joseph
Kuhn, Eric
Ramsey, Kelly M
Taylor, Katherine
Juhasz, Katherine
McGee-Vincent, Pearl
Mackintosh, Margaret-Anne
Owen, Jason E
PTSD Coach Version 3.1: A Closer Look at the Reach, Use, and Potential Impact of This Updated Mobile Health App in the General Public
title PTSD Coach Version 3.1: A Closer Look at the Reach, Use, and Potential Impact of This Updated Mobile Health App in the General Public
title_full PTSD Coach Version 3.1: A Closer Look at the Reach, Use, and Potential Impact of This Updated Mobile Health App in the General Public
title_fullStr PTSD Coach Version 3.1: A Closer Look at the Reach, Use, and Potential Impact of This Updated Mobile Health App in the General Public
title_full_unstemmed PTSD Coach Version 3.1: A Closer Look at the Reach, Use, and Potential Impact of This Updated Mobile Health App in the General Public
title_short PTSD Coach Version 3.1: A Closer Look at the Reach, Use, and Potential Impact of This Updated Mobile Health App in the General Public
title_sort ptsd coach version 3.1: a closer look at the reach, use, and potential impact of this updated mobile health app in the general public
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9006138/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35348458
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/34744
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