Mobile Applications in Mood Disorders and Mental Health: Systematic Search in Apple App Store and Google Play Store and Review of the Literature

Sophie Eis, Oriol Solà-Morales, Andrea Duarte-Díaz, Josep Vidal-Alaball, Lilisbeth Perestelo-Pérez, Noemí Robles and Carme Carrion
Additional contact information
Sophie Eis: Fundació HiTT (Health Innovation Technology Transfer), 08015 Barcelona, Spain
Oriol Solà-Morales: Fundació HiTT (Health Innovation Technology Transfer), 08015 Barcelona, Spain
Andrea Duarte-Díaz: Canary Islands Health Research Institute Foundation (FIISC), 38109 Tenerife, Spain
Josep Vidal-Alaball: Health Promotion in Rural Areas Research Group, Gerència Territorial de la Catalunya Central, Institut Català de la Salut, 08272 Barcelona, Spain
Lilisbeth Perestelo-Pérez: Evaluation Unit of the Canary Islands Health Service (SESCS), REDISSEC, 38109 Tenerife, Spain
Noemí Robles: eHealth Lab Research Group, School of Health Sciences and eHealth Centre, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), 08035 Barcelona, Spain
Carme Carrion: eHealth Lab Research Group, School of Health Sciences and eHealth Centre, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), 08035 Barcelona, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: Objectives: The main objective of this work was to explore and characterize the current landscape of mobile applications available to treat mood disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, and dysthymia. Methods: We developed a tool that makes both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store searchable using keywords and that facilitates the extraction of basic app information of the search results. All app results were filtered using various inclusion and exclusion criteria. We characterized all resultant applications according to their technical details. Furthermore, we searched for scientific publications on each app’s website and PubMed, to understand whether any of the apps were supported by any type of scientific evidence on their acceptability, validation, use, effectiveness, etc. Results: Thirty apps were identified that fit the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The literature search yielded 27 publications related to the apps. However, these did not exclusively concern mood disorders. 6 were randomized studies and the rest included a protocol, pilot-, feasibility, case-, or qualitative studies, among others. The majority of studies were conducted on relatively small scales and 9 of the 27 studies did not explicitly study the effects of mobile application use on mental wellbeing. Conclusion: While there exists a wealth of mobile applications aimed at the treatment of mental health disorders, including mood disorders, this study showed that only a handful of these are backed by robust scientific evidence. This result uncovers a need for further clinically oriented and systematic validation and testing of such apps.

Keywords: mental health apps; mobile applications; mood disorders; bipolar; depression; dysthymia; Apple App Store; Google Play Store (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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