State of the Field of Mental Health Apps

Martha Neary, Stephen M. Schueller*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

162 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mental health apps offer unique opportunities for self-management of mental health and well-being in mobile, cost-effective ways. There is an abundance of apps available to consumers, but selecting a useful one presents a challenge. Most available apps are not supported by empirical evidence and thus consumers have access to a range of untested apps, the benefits of which are not known or supported. While user ratings exist, and are likely to be considered by consumers when selecting an app, they do not actually yield information on app suitability. A possible alternative way for consumers to choose an app would be to use an app review platform. A number of attempts have been made to construct such a platform, and this paper introduces PsyberGuide, which offers a step towards providing objective and actionable information for publicly available mental health apps.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)531-537
Number of pages7
JournalCognitive and Behavioral Practice
Volume25
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2018

Funding

PsyberGuide is a propriety project of, and is funded by, One Mind. The operation of PsyberGuide is managed by Stephen M. Schueller of Northwestern University, who is the PI of a grant from One Mind to Northwestern. Dr. Schueller is supported by a career development award K08MH102336 and is an investigator with the Implementation Research Institute (IRI), at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis; through an award from the National Institute of Mental Health (5R25MH08091607) and the Department of Veteran Affairs, Health Services Research & Development Service, Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI).

Keywords

  • dissemination
  • mHealth
  • mental health
  • mobile apps
  • technology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'State of the Field of Mental Health Apps'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this