Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jun 23, 2023
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 23, 2023 - Aug 18, 2023
Date Accepted: Nov 24, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Exploring adolescents’ attitudes towards mental health apps: A concurrent mixed-methods study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Mental health promotion is important, especially when it comes to the health and well-being of adolescents. In recent years, an increasing number of mental health mobile applications (i.e., apps) geared at prevention and promotion have been developed specifically for adolescents, with the goal of strengthening their mental health and well-being.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to investigate adolescents’ general thoughts and opinions about mental health apps.
Methods:
In this mixed-methods study, a total of 183 (Mage = 15.62 years, SD = 3.21) adolescents answered a 10-question, cross-sectional questionnaire (e.g., “What do you think about mental health apps in general?”). To complement the quantitative findings, individual interviews were conducted with nine adolescents, during which they could elaborate on their opinions about mental health apps.
Results:
A total of 30% of the quantitative sample had used a mental health app. The majority (61.1%) reported that they would use a mental health app if they had a mental health problem, and 62% reported that they thought mental health apps were somewhat or very useful. Availability was the most frequently mentioned advantage of mental health apps (58.8%). Possible associated costs of mental health apps was the most frequently mentioned barrier to use (47.5%). Seven themes were identified from the interviews, which supported the quantitative findings.
Conclusions:
The findings of this study have important implications for future research on mental health apps and for developers of mental health apps that target young people. The insights gained from this study can inform the development of more effective mental health apps that better meet the needs and preferences of adolescents.
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.