School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland.
JMIR Ment Health. 2015 Aug 10;2(3):e22. doi: 10.2196/mental.4370.
Early intervention is important in order to improve mental health outcomes for young people. Given the recent rise in mobile phone ownership among adolescents, an innovative means of delivering such intervention is through the use of mobile phone applications (apps).
The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of "CopeSmart", a telemental health app developed to foster positive mental health in adolescents through emotional self-monitoring and the promotion of positive coping strategies.
Forty-three adolescents (88% female) aged 15-17 years downloaded the app and used it over a one-week period. They then completed self-report questionnaires containing both open-ended and closed-ended questions about their experiences of using the app. The app itself captured data related to user engagement.
On average participants engaged with the app on 4 of the 7 days within the intervention period. Feedback from users was reasonably positive, with 70% of participants reporting that they would use the app again and 70% reporting that they would recommend it to a friend. Thematic analysis of qualitative data identified themes pertaining to users' experiences of the app, which were both positive (eg, easy to use, attractive layout, emotional self-monitoring, helpful information, notifications, unique) and negative (eg, content issues, did not make user feel better, mood rating issues, password entry, interface issues, engagement issues, technical fixes).
Overall findings suggest that telemental health apps have potential as a feasible medium for promoting positive mental health, with the majority of young people identifying such technologies as at least somewhat useful and displaying a moderate level of engagement with them. Future research should aim to evaluate the efficacy of such technologies as tools for improving mental health outcomes in young people.
为了改善年轻人的心理健康状况，早期干预至关重要。鉴于青少年最近拥有手机的人数增加，通过使用手机应用程序（apps）来提供这种干预是一种创新手段。
本研究旨在评估“CopeSmart”的可行性，这是一款通过情绪自我监测和促进积极应对策略来培养青少年积极心理健康的远程心理健康应用程序。
43 名年龄在 15-17 岁的青少年（88%为女性）下载了该应用程序，并在一周内使用了该程序。然后，他们完成了包含开放式和封闭式问题的自我报告问卷，以了解他们使用该应用程序的体验。该应用程序本身捕获了与用户参与度相关的数据。
平均而言，参与者在干预期内的 7 天中有 4 天使用该应用程序。用户的反馈相当积极，70%的参与者表示他们会再次使用该应用程序，70%的参与者表示会向朋友推荐该应用程序。对定性数据的主题分析确定了与用户对应用程序体验相关的主题，这些主题既有积极的（例如，易于使用、吸引人的布局、情绪自我监测、有用的信息、通知、独特）也有消极的（例如，内容问题、应用程序不能改善用户的情绪、情绪评分问题、密码输入、界面问题、参与度问题、技术修复）。
总体研究结果表明，远程心理健康应用程序作为促进积极心理健康的可行媒介具有潜力，大多数年轻人认为这些技术至少在某种程度上是有用的，并对其具有中等程度的参与度。未来的研究应该旨在评估这些技术作为改善年轻人心理健康结果的工具的疗效。
