Emotion-Focused Mobile App for Promoting Self-Compassion, Self-Protection, and Self-Criticism

Júlia Halamová (), Jakub Mihaľo and Lukáš Bakoš
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Júlia Halamová: Institute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynské luhy 4, 821 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
Jakub Mihaľo: Institute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynské luhy 4, 821 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
Lukáš Bakoš: Institute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynské luhy 4, 821 05 Bratislava, Slovakia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-13

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our daily lives and restricted access to traditional psychological interventions. Hence there is an immediate and growing demand for accessible and scalable mental health solutions. Emotion-focused training for self-compassion and self-protection was developed and distributed using mobile phone technologies, and its effectiveness was tested. The available research sample consisted of 97 participants with a mean age of 26.06 years and a standard deviation of 10.53. Participants using the mobile app underwent a 14-day program aimed at reducing self-criticism while increasing self-compassion and self-protection. Pre- and post-measurements were collected. The results showed a statistically significant medium effect on self-compassion, self-criticism, and self-protection performance and a significant small effect on self-protection distress. The finding that a 14-day mobile app was able to foster well-being in the form of self-compassion, self-protection, and self-criticism is promising. It indicates the potential for individuals to obtain help through the use of remote tools such as MHapps for a fraction of the usual cost, at their own pace, and without other restrictions.

Keywords: self-compassion; self-criticism; self-protection; emotion-focused therapy; mobile app; Mhealth; MHapps (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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