Quinn Burns
Stephen Voida
ABSTRACT
We identify features of mood-tracking apps for managing mental health that foster engagement and sustained use by adolescents—a population that expresses a preference for digital apps over face-to-face support, yet demonstrates low levels of engagement with such apps. We developed a prototype of an adolescent-focused mood-tracking app, informed by literature about existing apps’ approaches to recording patients’ symptoms, the role of data representations in long-term mental health management, and the potential benefits of peer support tools. We then conducted a survey (n = 88) to assess adolescents’ preferences for various aspects of this prototype. We found that participants prefer tools for self-reflection and self-awareness over those for gamification or social support, and that they value function over entertainment when choosing wellness apps, especially among participants who disclosed a history of managing mental health. Qualitative analysis of open-ended responses revealed that customization and self-reflection are important design themes. Our findings have implications for the design of mental health apps that cater to the specific needs and preferences of adolescent users.
- Felwah Alqahtani, Andrea Winn, and Rita Orji. 2021. Co-designing a mobile app to improve mental health and well-being: Focus group study. JMIR Formative Research 5, 2, Article e18172 (Feb. 2021), 23 pages. https://doi.org/10.2196/18172Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Jakob E. Bardram, Mads Frost, Károly Szántó, Maria Faurholt-Jepsen, Maj Vinberg, and Lars Vedel Kessing. 2013. Designing mobile health technology for bipolar disorder: A field trial of the MONARCA system. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems(CHI ’13). ACM Press, New York, NY, USA, 2627–2636. https://doi.org/10.1145/2470654.2481364Google ScholarDigital Library
- Louise Birrell, Ainsley Furneaux-Bate, Cath Chapman, and Nicola C. Newton. 2021. A mobile peer intervention for preventing mental health and substance use problems in adolescents: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial (The Mind Your Mate study). JMIR Research Protocols 10, 7, Article e26796 (July 2021), 13 pages. https://doi.org/10.2196/26796Google ScholarCross Ref
- Sandra Garrido, Daniel Cheers, Katherine Boydell, Quang Vinh Nguyen, Emery Schubert, Laura Dunne, and Tanya Meade. 2019. Young people’s response to six smartphone apps for anxiety and depression: Focus group study. JMIR Mental Health 6, 10, Article e14385 (Oct. 2019), 14 pages. https://doi.org/10.2196/14385Google ScholarCross Ref
- Sandra Garrido, Eliza Oliver, Anthony Chmiel, Barbara Doran, and Katherine Boydell. 2022. Encouraging help-seeking and engagement in a mental health app: What young people want. Frontiers in Digital Health 4, Article 1045765 (Dec. 2022), 9 pages. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2022.1045765Google ScholarCross Ref
- Michael J. D. Hoefer, Lucy Van Kleunen, Cassandra Goodby, Lanea B. Blackburn, Priyanka Panati, and Stephen Voida. 2021. The multiplicative patient and the clinical workflow: Clinician perspectives on social interfaces for self-tracking and managing bipolar disorder. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems(DIS ’21). ACM Press, New York, NY, USA, 907–925. https://doi.org/10.1145/3461778.3461995Google ScholarDigital Library
- Alita Joyce and Jakob Nielsen. 2019. Teenager’s UX: Designing for teens. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-of-websites-for-teenagers/.Google Scholar
- Benjamin T. Kaveladze, Akash R. Wasil, John B. Bunyi, Veronica Ramirez, and Stephen M. Schueller. 2022. User experience, engagement, and popularity in mental health apps: Secondary analysis of app analytics and expert app reviews. JMIR Human Factors 9, 1, Article e30766 (Jan. 2022), 11 pages. https://doi.org/10.2196/30766Google ScholarCross Ref
- U.S. Department of Health Office of Population Affairs and Human Services. [n. d.]. Mental health for adolescents. Retrieved from: https://opa.hhs.gov/adolescent-health/mental-health adolescents.Google Scholar
- Stephanie G. Six, Kaileigh A. Byrne, Thomas P. Tibbett, and Irene Pericot-Valverde. 2021. Examining the effectiveness of gamification in mental health apps for depression: Systematic review and meta-analysis. JMIR Mental Health 8, 11, Article e32199 (Nov. 2021), 19 pages. https://doi.org/10.2196/32199Google ScholarCross Ref
- Colleen Stiles-Shields, Giovanni Ramos, Adrian Ortega, , and Alexandra M. Psihogios. 2023. Increasing digital mental health reach and uptake via youth partnerships. npj Mental Health Research 2, Article 9 (June 2023), 4 pages. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-023-00030-1Google ScholarCross Ref
Index Terms
- Investigating Mobile Mental Health App Designs to Foster Engagement Among Adolescents
Recommendations
Factors associated with adolescents’ engagement with a Healthy Lifestyles app
AbstractBackground: Digital approaches are frequently described as an ideal way to engage young people with health interventions. However, uptake and adherence to these interventions is often poor. Identifying factors associated with engagement, and the ...
Engagement with Mental Health Screening on Mobile Devices: Results from an Antenatal Feasibility Study
CHI '19: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsPerinatal depression (PND) affects up to 15% of women within the United Kingdom and has a lasting impact on a woman's quality of life, birth outcomes and her child's development. Suicide is the leading cause of maternal mortality. However, it is ...
Sexting experiences and motivations among adolescents with ADHD and ASD
AbstractSexting (i.e., to send and receive self-produced sexual materials) has become a common element in adolescents’ socio-sexual exploration. Although often harmless, sexting also involves the risk of abuse, and potentially more so for some ...
Highlights- Adolescents, including those with ADHD/ASD, mainly use sexting for sexual gratification and exploration.
Comments