Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Jul 21, 2022
Date Accepted: Sep 9, 2022
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Mental Health Mobile Apps in the French App Store: Assessment of Functionality and Quality
ABSTRACT
Background:
Approximately 800 million people, representing 11% of the world's population, are affected by mental health problems. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated problems and triggered a decline in well-being, with a drastic increase in the incidence of conditions such as anxiety, depression, and stress. Around 20,000 mental health apps are listed in the mobile application stores. However, no significant evaluation of mental health applications in French, spoken by approximately 300 million people, has yet been identified in the literature.
Objective:
The aim of this study is to review the mental health mobile apps currently available on the French Apple App and Google Play stores and to evaluate their quality using the French version of the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS-F).
Methods:
A screening of mental health apps was conducted from June 10 to 17, 2022, on the French Apple and Google Play stores. A shortlist of 12 apps was identified using criteria of selection and assessed using the MARS-F by nine mental health professionals. Intraclass correlation was used to evaluate inter-rater agreement. Mean ± SD scores and their distributions for each section and item were calculated.
Results:
The top scores for MARS-F quality were obtained by Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa (mean 3.85 ± standard deviation 0.48), Evoluno (3.54 ± 0.72), and Teale (3.53 ± 0.87). The engagement scores (Section A) ranged from 2.33 ± 0.69 for Reflexe Reussite to 3.80 ± 0.61 for Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa. The aesthetics scores (Section C) ranged from 2.52 ± 0.62 for Mental Booster to 3.89 ± 0.69 for Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa. The information scores (Section D) ranged from 2.00 ± 0.75 for Mental Booster to 3.46 ± 0.77 for Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa. The MARS subjective quality (Section E) score varied from 1.22 ± 0.26 for VOS – journal de l’humeur to 2.69 ± 0.84 for Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa. The app specificity (section F) score varied from 1.56 ± 0.97 for Mental booster to 3.31 ± 1.22 for Evoluno. For all the mental health apps studied except Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa, the subjective quality score was always lower than the app specificity score which was always lower than the MARS-F quality score and that was lower than the rating score from the iOS or Android app stores.
Conclusions:
Mental health professionals assessed that, despite the lack of scientific evidence, the mental health mobile apps available on the French Apple store and Google play store were of good quality. However, they are reluctant to use them in their professional practice. Additional investigations are needed to assess their compliance with the recommendations and their long-term impact on users.
Citation
