Authors:
Abel González Mondéjar
1
;
Luiza Oliveira Régnier
1
;
Greis Francy M. Silva-Calpa
1
and
Daniel C. Mograbi
2
;
3
Affiliations:
1
Department of Informatics, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225, Gávea, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
;
2
Department of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225, Gávea, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
;
3
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, Camberwell, SE5 8AF, London, U.K.
Keyword(s):
mHealth, Bipolar Disorder, Active Data, Passive Data, Patient Adherence.
Abstract:
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a mental illness that affects 40 million people worldwide. Fluctuations in mood, activity, and self-awareness mark this condition. Studies using mHealth applications to monitor people with BD have shown promising results in the early detection of these fluctuations; however, they usually require participants to complete daily tasks in the app, which causes them to abandon the study and compromises the quality of the research. This paper explores the adherence to BraPolar2 mHealth through a set of development strategies. To identify the aspects that lead patients with BD not to complete daily data in an mHealth application and the factors that motivate them to use the application as a habit, we conducted qualitative research with BraPolar2 mHealth. Nine people with BD participated in the study and used BraPolar2 for more than 3 months, answering a semi-structured interview. The results show that users can fill in all the data quickly and begin to pay more atte
ntion to their mental health daily. The paper contributes by demonstrating how a simplified interface in mHealths, coupled with qualitative research, can lead to the participation of mHealth applications for mental health follow-up, allowing an improved follow-up in next studies.
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