Thornton Louise K, Kay-Lambkin Frances J
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
School of Medicine and Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia.
Mhealth. 2018 Dec 6;4:56. doi: 10.21037/mhealth.2018.11.04. eCollection 2018.
Despite widespread development of mobile health apps, there is a paucity of research investigating user views of apps and their features, particularly among people with mental health problems. This study aimed to gain an understanding of the acceptability of specific features of current and emerging mobile health apps among people with and without mental health problems.
Adults living in Australia were recruited to complete a self-report questionnaire regarding demographic characteristics, mental health, technology use, and attitudes regarding specific features of mobile health apps.
A total of 284 participants were recruited, including 53% with a history of mental illness. Few concerns were reported with mobile app features (mean =1.8 features; SD =2.19) and statistical analyses found that age, gender, income, rurality, mental health status and technology use did not affect the expression of these concerns. Key issues identified included privacy and security of personal information, apps acting automatically, sharing personal information and the invasive nature of some features.
These results suggest that mental illness may not be a barrier to widespread use of mobile technologies for health purposes. It is hoped that this research will assist developers and clinicians to develop and integrate mobile health apps into everyday care more effectively.
尽管移动健康应用广泛发展，但针对用户对应用及其功能的看法的研究却很少，尤其是在有心理健康问题的人群中。本研究旨在了解当前和新兴移动健康应用的特定功能在有和没有心理健康问题的人群中的可接受性。
招募居住在澳大利亚的成年人，以完成一份关于人口统计学特征、心理健康、技术使用以及对移动健康应用特定功能的态度的自我报告问卷。
共招募了284名参与者，其中53%有精神疾病史。报告的对移动应用功能的担忧较少（平均=1.8个功能；标准差=2.19），统计分析发现年龄、性别、收入、农村地区、心理健康状况和技术使用并未影响这些担忧的表达。确定的关键问题包括个人信息的隐私和安全、应用自动运行、共享个人信息以及某些功能的侵入性。
这些结果表明，精神疾病可能不是广泛使用移动技术促进健康的障碍。希望这项研究将有助于开发者和临床医生更有效地开发移动健康应用并将其融入日常护理中。
