Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Aug 10, 2020
Date Accepted: Oct 27, 2020
Assessing the Reach, Use and Impact of a Free mHealth Mindfulness app in the General Population
ABSTRACT
Background:
Because smartphones are now used by most Americans, it is increasingly possible for mental health mobile applications to be disseminated to the general public. However, little is known about how mobile mental health apps are used by the general population outside of a controlled research design.
Objective:
To describe how the general population engages with Mindfulness Coach, an iOS and Android based app designed to deliver a mindfulness training course.
Methods:
Using anonymous download and analytics data, we characterize the reach, usage, retention and impact of Mindfulness Coach. We included mobile analytics data from all unique downloads of Mindfulness Coach between August 1st, 2018 through April 8th, 2019 (n=104,067) as well as star reviews from all Mindfulness Coach users who provided reviews of the app as of March 1st, 2020. Mindfulness characteristics were measured by an in-app assessment using the Five-Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire Short Form (FFMQ-SF).
Results:
On average, users engaged in 4.3 visits to the app (sd = 8.8, Median = 2, 90th% = 8), associated with an average total of 49.2 interactions with the app (i.e., clicks within the app) (sd = 113.8, Median = 19, 90th% = 105). Users spent an average of 16.2 minutes engaged with the app over the full study time period. There were strong linear effects of app engagement on total MMFQ-SF scores. For example, MMFQ-SF scores were associated with more time spent engaged with the app (R2 = .23 P < .001). Mindfulness Coach has been reviewed in the Android Play store 3,415 times with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars and over 2,000 times in the Apple App Store with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that Mindfulness Coach has achieved substantial and sustained reach in the population, however, it is used less frequently than desired by many downloaders. There is a sub-population of users who engage in the app regularly over an extended period of time, and there is a clear relationship between app use and improvements in mindfulness. To strengthen Mindfulness Coach’s public health impact, more research is needed to understand who is using the app and how and design strategies to increase user engagement in order to receive a larger dose of mindfulness treatment.
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Copyright
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