Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Oct 28, 2020
Date Accepted: Mar 18, 2021
Participant perceptions of facilitators and barriers to adherence in a digital mental health intervention for a nonclinical cohort: A qualitative study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital mental health promotion interventions present a scalable opportunity to attenuate the risk of mental health distress among nonclinical cohorts. However, adherence is frequently suboptimal and little is known about participants’ perspectives concerning facilitators and barriers to adherence in community-based settings.
Objective:
To examine participants’ perceptions of facilitators and barriers to adherence in a web and mobile app-based mental health promotion intervention for a nonclinical cohort.
Methods:
This qualitative study used inductive, reflexive thematic analysis to explore free-text responses in a postintervention evaluation of a 10-week digital mental health promotion intervention. The intervention was administered using a web/mobile app from September to December 2018. Participants (N=320) were Australian and New Zealand members of a faith-based organization who self-selected into the study, owned a mobile phone with messaging capability, had an email address and internet access, were fluent in English, provided informed consent, and gave permission for their data to be used for research. The postintervention questionnaire elicited participant perceptions of facilitators and barriers to adherence during the intervention period.
Results:
Key factors that facilitated adherence were: engaging content, time availability and management, ease of accessibility, easy or enjoyable practical challenges, high perceived value, and personal motivation to complete the intervention. The primary perceived barrier to adherence was the participants’ lack of time. Other barriers included: completing and recording practical activities, length of video content, technical difficulties, and a combination of personal factors.
Conclusions:
Time scarcity was the foremost issue for the nonclinical cohort engaged in this digital mental health promotion intervention. Program developers should streamline digital interventions to minimize the time investment for participants. This may include condensed content, optimizing intuitive web and app design, simplified recording of activities, and greater participant autonomy in choosing optional features. Nonetheless, participants identified a multiplicity of other interindividual factors that facilitated or inhibited adherence. Clinical Trial: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): 12619001009101.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.