JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Families experiencing high levels of psychological distress are considered a particular vulnerable population for adverse effects on mental and physical health. Moreover, highly stressed individuals engage less likely in mental health promoting activities and show low stress management competencies. App-based stress interventions seem promising for the treatment and prevention of stress outcomes and might be a low-threshold solution.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to identify the requirements of a tailored app to reduce stress in a cohort of highly stressed families that have low stress management skills.

Methods:

A total of N=1008 parents (aged 47.7 ± 6.1; 59,7% females) completed an extensive online survey and were subdivided into a target and non-target group according to their reported stress level and stress management competencies. Group differences were analyzed using ANOVA. In a principal component analysis with Varimax Kaiser Rotation, personally defined stress management goals were grouped into components. Lastly, linear regression models were calculated.

Results:

A three-factor solution cumulatively explained 56% of the variance in personally defined goals of interest for stress management with (1) „active strategies" (25.61% explained variance), (2) „general competence" (17.95% explained variance) and (3) „passive strategies" (12.45% explained variance). The target and non-target groups differed in age (F(1, 978)=27.67, P<.001), health index (F(1, 958)=246.14, P<.001), personally defined „general competence“ goal (F(1, 958)=94.16 P<.001) and PSI personality traits "information acquisition" (F(1, 971)=14.75, P<.001) and "need for stimulation" (F(1, 981)=54.49, P<.001). A regression model showed that for “active strategies” goals of interest, only the app-feature information or instructional videos had a significant effect. The "general competence"-factor showed no significant effect at all and the "passive strategies" factor showed a significant effect for two app features: (1) suggestions for planning possible activities with the family as well as (2) diaries for documentation and development of strategies.

Conclusions:

The results of this survey study highlight the need to develop an app to increase stress management competencies in consideration of the perceived stress level, stress management skills, personality, and personally defined goals of the user. The content of the app should be tailored to priorly detected personality traits, especially selective information acquisition and low need for stimulation. Further, personally defined stress management goals seem to affect the interest in some features.