JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Physical activity has known and broad health benefits, including anti-depressive and anxiolytic effects. Yet, only about half of Americans meet even the minimum exercise recommendations. Individuals with anxiety, depression, and related conditions are even less likely to do so.

Objective:

With the advent of mobile sensors and phones, experts quickly noted the utility of technology for enhanced measurement of and intervention for physical activity. In addition to being more accessible than in-person approaches, technology-driven interventions may uniquely engage key mechanisms of behavior change, such as self-awareness.

Methods:

This review summarizes early efforts to adapt and test smartphone-based or -supported physical activity interventions for mental health.

Results:

To date, the majority of studies have examined mental health outcomes as secondary or exploratory variables, largely in the context of managing medical concerns (e.g., cancer, diabetes). Few trials have recruited psychiatric populations or explicitly aimed to target psychiatric concerns. Consequently, although there are encouraging signals that smartphone based physical activity interventions could be feasible, acceptable, and efficacious for individuals with mental illness, this remains an underexplored area. Promising avenues for tailoring validated smartphone-based interventions include adding psychoeducation (e.g., the relationship between depression and physical (in)activity), offering psychosocial treatment in parallel (e.g., cognitive restructuring), or adding personalized coaching.

Conclusions:

To conclude, we offer specific recommendations for future research, treatment development, and implementation in this area, which remains open and promising for flexible, highly scalable support. Clinical Trial: N/A