Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T19:08:41.444Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of mobile apps on stress, anxiety, and depression: overview of systematic reviews

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2020

Fatemeh Khademian Open the ORCID record for Fatemeh Khademian [Opens in a new window] ,
Azam Aslani Open the ORCID record for Azam Aslani [Opens in a new window]  and
Peivand Bastani
Fatemeh Khademian
Affiliation:
Health Information Management, Student Research Committee, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Azam Aslani*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran National Agency for Strategic Research in Medical Education, Tehran, Iran
Peivand Bastani
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Health Human Resources Research Center, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
*
Author for correspondence: Azam Aslani, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives

Despite a large number of mobile apps in the field of mental health, it is difficult to find a useful and reliable one, mainly due to the fact that the effectiveness of many apps has not been assessed scientifically. The present study aimed to assess the effects of mental health apps on managing the symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Methods

A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases for the papers published from 2000 to 2019. Studies were included if they reviewed articles or mobile apps for their effectiveness in stress, anxiety, and depression. The reviews that had considered mobile apps or web-based mobile applications as an intervention or part of intervention were included, as well.

Results

A total of 4,999 peer-reviewed articles were identified, out of which nine systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria. Seven systematic reviews measured depression outcomes, three measured stress, and five systematic reviews measured anxiety symptoms. The applications that used behavior change strategies, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Behavioral Activation, reported significant effects on depression, anxiety, and stress.

Conclusion

It seems that mental health apps can be promising media for reducing depressive symptoms. This field is an emerging area of mobile health, and further research should be done in future in order to reach conclusive evidence.

Keywords

Mobile healthmHealthMobile appTelemedicineStressDepressionAnxiety
Type
Assessment
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , 2021 , e4
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Clement, S, Schauman, O, Graham, T, Maggioni, F, Evans-Lacko, S, Bezborodovs, N, et al. What is the impact of mental health-related stigma on help-seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies. Psychol Med. 2015;45:11–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization. Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence, 2003: Available from: http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/investing_mnh.pdf.Google Scholar
World Health Organization. Substance Abuse Dept. Global status report: Alcohol policy, 2004: Available from: http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/en/Alcohol%20Policy%20Report.pdf.Google Scholar
World Health Organization. Depression and other common mental disorders: Global health estimates. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017. p.1–24.Google Scholar
Marcus, M, Yasamy, MT, van Ommeren, M, Chisholm, D, Saxena, S. Depression: A global public health concern. 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler, DA, McLaughlin, TJ, Rogers, WH, Chang, H, Lapitsky, L, Lerner, D. Job performance deficits due to depression. Am J Psychiatry. 2006;163:1569–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polanczyk, GV, Salum, GA, Sugaya, LS, Caye, A, Rohde, LA. Annual research review: A meta-analysis of the worldwide prevalence of mental disorders in children and adolescents. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2015;56:345–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baxter, AJ, Vos, T, Scott, KM, Norman, RE, Flaxman, AD, Blore, J, et al. The regional distribution of anxiety disorders: Implications for the global burden of disease study, 2010. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2014;23:422–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lazarus, RS. Psychological stress and the coping process. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1966.Google Scholar
Henderson, M, Glozier, N, Elliott, KH. Long term sickness absence. London: British Medical Journal Publishing Group; 2005.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Orden, ML, Deen, ML, Spinhoven, P, Haffmans, J, Hoencamp, E. Five-year mental health care use by patients referred to collaborative care or to specialized care. Psychiatr Serv. 2015;66:840–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jörg, F, Visser, E, Ormel, J, Reijneveld, SA, Hartman, CA, Oldehinkel, AJ. Mental health care use in adolescents with and without mental disorders. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2016;25:501–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Demyttenaere, K, Bruffaerts, R, Posada-Villa, J, Gasquet, I, Kovess, V, Lepine, J, et al. Prevalence, severity, and unmet need for treatment of mental disorders in the world health organization world mental health surveys. JAMA. 2004;291:2581–90.Google ScholarPubMed
Li, N, Du, W, Chen, G, Song, X, Zheng, X. Mental health service use among Chinese adults with mental disabilities: A national survey. Psychiatr Serv. 2013;64:638–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khademian, F, Rezaee, R, Pournik, O. Randomized controlled trial: The effects of short message service on mothers’ oral health knowledge and practice. Community Dent Health. 2020;37:125–31.Google ScholarPubMed
Aboujaoude, E, Salame, W, Naim, L. Telemental health: A status update. World Psychiatry. 2015;14:223–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ericsson, A. Ericsson mobility report: On the pulse of the Networked Society. Ericsson, Sweden, Tech Rep EAB-14. 2015;61078.Google Scholar
Lee, H, Uhm, KE, Cheong, IY, Yoo, JS, Chung, SH, Park, YH, et al. Patient satisfaction with mobile health (mHealth) application for exercise intervention in breast cancer survivors. J Med Syst. 2018;42:254.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donkin, L, Christensen, H, Naismith, SL, Neal, B, Hickie, IB, Glozier, N. A systematic review of the impact of adherence on the effectiveness of e-therapies. J Med Internet Res. 2011;13:e52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rathbone, AL, Prescott, J. The use of mobile apps and SMS messaging as physical and mental health interventions: Systematic review. J Med Internet Res. 2017;19:e295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Islam, SMS, Lechner, A, Ferrari, U, Froeschl, G, Alam, DS, Holle, R, et al. Mobile phone intervention for increasing adherence to treatment for type 2 diabetes in an urban area of Bangladesh: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial. BMC Health Serv Res. 2014;14:586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brouwer, W, Kroeze, W, Crutzen, R, de Nooijer, J, de Vries, NK, Brug, J, et al. Which intervention characteristics are related to more exposure to internet-delivered healthy lifestyle promotion interventions? A systematic review. J Med Internet Res. 2011;13:e2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryan, C, Bergin, M, Wells, JSG. Theoretical perspectives of adherence to web-based interventions: A scoping review. Int J Behav Med. 2018;25:17–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knight-Agarwal, C, Davis, DL, Williams, L, Davey, R, Cox, R, Clarke, A. Development and pilot testing of the Eating4Two mobile phone app to monitor gestational weight gain. JMIR mHealth uHealth. 2015;3:e44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herring, SJ, Cruice, JF, Bennett, GG, Rose, MZ, Davey, A, Foster, GD. Preventing excessive gestational weight gain among African American women: A randomized clinical trial. Obesity. 2016;24:30–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kang, H, Park, H-A. A mobile app for hypertension management based on clinical practice guidelines: Development and deployment. JMIR mHealth uHealth. 2016;4:e12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohk, K, Park, S-B, Hong, J-W. The influence of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, interactivity, and ease of navigation on satisfaction in mobile application. Adv Sci Technol Lett. 2015;84:88–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, T. Examining the critical success factors of mobile website adoption. Online Inf Rev. 2011;4:e12.Google Scholar
Anthes, E. Mental health: There's an app for that. Nat News. 2016;532:20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kovandžić, M, Chew-Graham, C, Reeve, J, Edwards, S, Peters, S, Edge, D, et al. Access to primary mental health care for hard-to-reach groups: From ‘silent suffering' to ‘making it work’. Soc Sci Med. 2011;72:763–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kerst, A, Zielasek, J, Gaebel, W. Smartphone applications for depression: A systematic literature review and a survey of health care professionals’ attitudes towards their use in clinical practice. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2019;270:139–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nair, U, Armfield, NR, Chatfield, MD, Edirippulige, S. The effectiveness of telemedicine interventions to address maternal depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Telemed Telecare. 2018;24:639–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Firth, J, Torous, J, Nicholas, J, Carney, R, Rosenbaum, S, Sarris, J. Can smartphone mental health interventions reduce symptoms of anxiety? A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Affect Disord. 2017;218:15–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stratton, E, Lampit, A, Choi, I, Calvo, RA, Harvey, SB, Glozier, N. Effectiveness of eHealth interventions for reducing mental health conditions in employees: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2017;12:e0189904.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menon, V, Rajan, TM, Sarkar, S. Psychotherapeutic applications of mobile phone-based technologies: A systematic review of current research and trends. Indian J Psychol Med. 2017;39:4–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lyzwinski, LN, Caffery, L, Bambling, M, Edirippulige, S. A systematic review of electronic mindfulness-based therapeutic interventions for weight, weight-related behaviors, and psychological stress. Telemed J E Health. 2018;24:173–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donker, T, Petrie, K, Proudfoot, J, Clarke, J, Birch, MR, Christensen, H. Smartphones for smarter delivery of mental health programs: A systematic review. J Med Internet Res. 2013;15:e247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffiths, KM, Farrer, L, Christensen, H. The efficacy of internet interventions for depression and anxiety disorders: A review of randomized controlled trials. Med J Aust. 2010;192:S4–S11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bashi, N, Karunanithi, M, Fatehi, F, Ding, H, Walters, D. Remote monitoring of patients with heart failure: An overview of systematic reviews. J Med Internet Res. 2017;19:e18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ediriweera, DS, Kasturiratne, A, Pathmeswaran, A, Gunawardena, NK, Wijayawickrama, BA, Jayamanne, SF, et al. Mapping the risk of snakebite in Sri Lanka—A national survey with geospatial analysis. PLoS Neglected Trop Dis. 2016;10:e0004813.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrer, M, Adam, SH, Fleischmann, RJ, Baumeister, H, Auerbach, R, Bruffaerts, R, et al. Effectiveness of an internet-and app-based intervention for college students with elevated stress: Randomized controlled trial. J Med Internet Res. 2018;20:e136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Economides, M, Martman, J, Bell, MJ, Sanderson, B. Improvements in stress, affect, and irritability following brief use of a mindfulness-based smartphone app: A randomized controlled trial. Mindfulness. 2018;9:1584–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Børøsund, E, Varsi, C, Clark, MM, Ehlers, SL, Andrykowski, MA, Sleveland, HRS, et al. Pilot testing an app-based stress management intervention for cancer survivors. Transl Behav Med. 2019;10:770–780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, K, Varma, DS, Prosperi, M. A systematic review of the effectiveness of mobile apps for monitoring and management of mental health symptoms or disorders. J Psychiatr Res. 2018;107:73–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Man-Son-Hing, M, Laupacis, A, O'Rourke, K, Molnar, FJ, Mahon, J, Chan, KB, et al. Determination of the clinical importance of study results. J Gen Intern Med. 2002;17:469–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Han, M, Lee, E. Effectiveness of mobile health application use to improve health behavior changes: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Healthcare Inform Res. 2018;24:207–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhao, J, Freeman, B, Li, M. Can mobile phone apps influence people's health behavior change? An evidence review. J Med Internet Res. 2016;18:e287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vervloet, M, Linn, AJ, van Weert, JC, De Bakker, DH, Bouvy, ML, Van Dijk, L. The effectiveness of interventions using electronic reminders to improve adherence to chronic medication: A systematic review of the literature. J Am Med Inform Assn. 2012;19:696–704.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rathbone, AL, Prescott, J. The use of mobile apps and SMS messaging as physical and mental health interventions: Systematic review. Focus. 2018;16:456–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berrouiguet, S, Baca-García, E, Brandt, S, Walter, M, Courtet, P. Fundamentals for future mobile-health (mHealth): A systematic review of mobile phone and web-based text messaging in mental health. J Med Internet Res. 2016;18:e135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brenninkmeijer, V, Lagerveld, SE, Blonk, RW, Schaufeli, WB, Wijngaards-de Meij, LD. Predicting the effectiveness of work-focused CBT for common mental disorders: The influence of baseline self-efficacy, depression and anxiety. J Occup Rehabil. 2019;29:31–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hopkinson, MD, Reavell, J, Lane, DA, Mallikarjun, P. Cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, anxiety, and stress in caregivers of dementia patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Gerontologist. 2018;59:e343–e62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heydari, M, Masafi, S, Jafari, M, Saadat, SH, Shahyad, S. Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on anxiety and depression of Razi Psychiatric Center staff. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2018;6:410.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Soleimani, M, Mohammadkhani, P, Dolatshahi, B, Alizadeh, H, Overmann, K, Coolidge, F. A comparative study of group behavioral activation and cognitive therapy in reducing subsyndromal anxiety and depressive symptoms. Iran J Psychiatry. 2015;10:71–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Mirzaei, M, Ardekani, SMY, Mirzaei, M, Dehghani, A. Prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among adult population: Results of Yazd health study. Iran J Psychiatry. 2019;14:137–46.Google ScholarPubMed
Hashmi, S. Adolescence: An age of storm and stress. Rev Arts Humanit. 2013;2:19–33.Google Scholar
World Health Organization. Mental health of older adults, 2017; Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-of-older-adults.Google Scholar
Mohr, DC, Tomasino, KN, Lattie, EG, Palac, HL, Kwasny, MJ, Weingardt, K, et al. IntelliCare: An eclectic, skills-based app suite for the treatment of depression and anxiety. J Med Internet Res. 2017;19:e10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cuijpers, P, Kleiboer, A, Karyotaki, E, Riper, H. Internet and mobile interventions for depression: Opportunities and challenges. Depression Anxiety. 2017;34:596–602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Firth, J, Torous, J, Nicholas, J, Carney, R, Pratap, A, Rosenbaum, S, et al. The efficacy of smartphone-based mental health interventions for depressive symptoms: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. World Psychiatry. 2017;16:287–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCambridge, J, Witton, J, Elbourne, DR. Systematic review of the Hawthorne effect: New concepts are needed to study research participation effects. J Clin Epidemiol. 2014;67:267–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pospos, S, Young, IT, Downs, N, Iglewicz, A, Depp, C, Chen, JY, et al. Web-based tools and mobile applications to mitigate burnout, depression, and suicidality among healthcare students and professionals: A systematic review. Acad Psychiatry. 2018;42:109–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Price, M, Yuen, EK, Goetter, EM, Herbert, JD, Forman, EM, Acierno, R, et al. mHealth: A mechanism to deliver more accessible, more effective mental health care. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2014;21:427–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebert, DD, Van Daele, T, Nordgreen, T, Karekla, M, Compare, A, Zarbo, C, et al. Internet-and mobile-based psychological interventions: Applications, efficacy, and potential for improving mental health. Eur Psychol. 2018;23:269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisel, KK, Fuhrmann, LM, Berking, M, Baumeister, H, Cuijpers, P, Ebert, DD. Standalone smartphone apps for mental health—A systematic review and meta-analysis. NPJ Digit Med. 2019;2:1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Radovic, A, Vona, PL, Santostefano, AM, Ciaravino, S, Miller, E, Stein, BD. Smartphone applications for mental health. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2016;19:465–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salehi, F, Kermani, ZA, Khademian, F, Aslani, A, editors. Critical appraisal of mental health applications. Iran: pHealth; 2019.Google ScholarPubMed
Dashti, S, Peyman, N, Tajfard, M, Esmaeeli, H. E-health literacy of medical and health sciences university students in Mashhad, Iran in 2016: A pilot study. Electron Phys. 2017;9:3966.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Khademian et al. supplementary material

Khademian et al. supplementary material

Download Khademian et al. supplementary material(File)
File 30 KB