What We’ve Learned So Far about Mobile Health for Mental Health

• What the mobile app does matters. “Assistive and monitoring apps are shown to be frequently used, whereas informative and educational apps are only occasionally used.” From a study of mobile apps for the eight most prevalent health conditions identified by the World Health Organization, one of which is “unipolar depressive disorders” (vs. bipolar with depressive and manic phases). Borja Martínez-Pérez et al., Mobile Health Applications for the Most Prevalent Conditions by the World Health Organization: Review and Analysis, 2013.

• It’s about the client. “Potential benefits to the quality of care received were seen in terms of assisting clinicians, faster and more efficient data exchange, and aiding patient-clinician communication. However, patients often failed to see the relevance of the systems to their personal situations, and emphasised the threat to the person centred element of their care.” Jasper E. Palmier-Claus et al., Integrating mobile-phone based assessment for psychosis into people’s everyday lives and clinical care: A qualitative study, 2013

• Studies of individual mobile apps are promising. “Preliminary analyses found that participants’ symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression and overall psychological distress were significantly reduced after using myCompass. Improvements were also found in functional impairment and self-efficacy.” Virginia Harrison, Judith Proudfoot, et al., Mobile mental health: review of the emerging field and proof of concept study, 2011.

• Practitioners will need to be mobile-savvy. “Future widespread use of smartphone technology in the behavioral health field can be expected. Our increasingly mobile, tech-savvy, and health conscious society will demand care delivery solutions that expand beyond traditional office-based requirements to better fit diverse needs and lifestyles. Smartphone technology has the potential to make behavioral health care more accessible, efficient, and interactive for patients and can improve the delivery of evidence-based treatments.” David Luxton et al., mHealth for Mental Health: Integrating Smartphone Technology in Behavioral Healthcare,.2011. “Whether psychologists embrace or resist aspects of technology, they should recognize how advanced technologies are changing the way we communicate and process information, anticipate needed growth, and prepare to meet ensuing challenges to professional psychology… Key technologies that presage future trends include video teleconferencing, ‘smart’ mobile devices, cloud computing, virtual worlds, virtual reality, and electronic games.” Marlene M. Maheu et al., Future of telepsychology, telehealth, and various technologies in psychological research and practice, 2012

• Clients will want mobile mental health services in the future. From a survey of 1,592 individuals with serious mental illness, 72% owning a mobile device, both “mobile device users and nonusers expressed interest in future mobile services.” Dror Ben-Zeev, et al., Mobile Technologies Among People with Serious Mental Illness: Opportunities for Future Services, 2013

Excerpt from Anne Giles’s round table discussion presentation of findings from the latest meta-analyses on mobile health technology for mental illnesses on November 8, 2013 at the Virginia Counselors Association Convention.

• What Counselors Need to Know about the Latest Research on mHealth for Mental Health – session handout
• Session introduction, synopsis and abstract

Anne Giles, M.A., M.S., has a master’s degree in mental health counseling. Read more about Anne and please feel free to contact her.