JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In recent years, there has been an increase in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses in college student populations, alongside a steady rise in the demand for counseling services. Digital mental health programs, such as those delivered through mobile apps, can add to the array of available services but must be tested for usability and acceptability prior to implementation.

Objective:

This study examines how students used IntelliCare for College Students over an 8-week period, to examine the preliminary effects of app use on psychosocial outcomes, and to gather user feedback about usability issues to be remedied prior to a larger implementation study.

Methods:

IntelliCare for College Students is an app-based platform that provides symptom assessments with personalized feedback, information about -campus resources, lessons on mental health and wellness topics, and access to the suite of interactive skills-focused IntelliCare apps. Twenty students were recruited to participate in an 8-week trial. To test for a broad range of potential users, we recruited a mixed sample of students with elevated symptoms of depression or anxiety and students without elevated symptoms. At baseline, week 4, and week 8, participants completed psychosocial questionnaires. Participants also completed user feedback interviews at 4 weeks and 8 weeks in which they provided feedback on their experience using the app and suggestions for changes they would like to see be made to the app.

Results:

Of the 20 students who downloaded the app, 19 completed the study, indicating a high rate of retention. Over the study period, participants completed an average of 6.05 symptom assessments (range: 1 to 9). Significant improvements were observed in scores on the Anxiety Literacy Questionnaire (Z = -2.006, p = .045), and in the frequency with which participants used both cognitive (Z = -2.091, p = .037) and behavioral (Z = -2.249, p = .025) coping skills. Feedback interviews identified a high degree of usability with minor bugs in the app software which were able to be quickly fixed. Further, feedback interviews identified that users found the app to be convenient, and appreciated the ability to use the program in very short bursts of time.

Conclusions:

Results indicate that the IntelliCare for College Students program was perceived as largely usable and engaging. While the program demonstrated usability and preliminary benefits to students, further testing is needed to determine its clinical utility among college students.