McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, United States.
William James College, Newton, MA, United States.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019 Jun 7;7(6):e13364. doi: 10.2196/13364.
Despite high rates of smartphone ownership in psychiatric populations, there are very little data available characterizing smartphone use in individuals with mental illness. In particular, few studies have examined the interest and use of smartphones to support mental health.
This study aimed to (1) characterize general smartphone app and social media usage in an acute transdiagnostic psychiatric sample with high smartphone ownership, (2) characterize current engagement and interest in the use of smartphone apps to support mental health, and (3) test demographic and clinical predictors of smartphone use.
The survey was completed by all patients attending an adult partial hospital program, with no exclusion criteria. The primary outcomes were frequency of use of general and mental health smartphone apps (smartphone use survey) and the frequency of social media use and phone-checking behavior (mobile technology engagement scale).
Overall, 322 patients (aged mean 33.49, SD 13.87 years; 57% female) reported that their most frequently used app functions were texting, email, and social media. Younger individuals reported more frequent use across most types of apps. Baseline depression and anxiety symptoms were not associated with the frequency of app use. Participants reported health care, calendar, and texting apps as most supportive of their mental health and social media apps as most negatively affecting their mental health. Most patients reported an interest in (73.9% [238/322]) and willingness to use (81.3% [262/322]) a smartphone app to monitor their mental health condition. Less than half (44%) of the patients currently had a mental health app downloaded on their smartphone, with mindfulness and meditation apps being the most common type.
The high interest in and willingness to use mental health apps, paired with the only moderate current reported usage, indicate a potential unmet treatment opportunity in psychiatric populations. There is potential to optimize non-mental health-specific apps to better support the needs of those with mental illness and to design a new wave of mental health apps that match the needs of these populations as well as the way they use smartphones in daily life.
尽管精神科患者拥有智能手机的比例很高，但有关精神疾病患者使用智能手机的情况数据却非常有限。特别是，很少有研究探讨使用智能手机来支持精神健康的兴趣和应用。
本研究旨在：（1）在一个拥有高智能手机拥有率的急性跨诊断精神科患者样本中，描述一般智能手机应用程序和社交媒体的使用情况；（2）描述当前对使用智能手机应用程序支持精神健康的参与度和兴趣；（3）测试智能手机使用的人口统计学和临床预测因素。
所有参加成人部分医院计划的患者都完成了这项调查，没有排除标准。主要结果是使用一般和精神健康智能手机应用程序的频率（智能手机使用调查）和使用社交媒体和手机检查行为的频率（移动技术参与量表）。
总体而言，322 名患者（年龄平均为 33.49 岁，标准差为 13.87 岁；57%为女性）报告说，他们最常使用的应用程序功能是短信、电子邮件和社交媒体。年轻人报告说，他们在大多数类型的应用程序中使用的频率更高。基线抑郁和焦虑症状与应用程序使用频率无关。参与者报告称，医疗保健、日历和短信应用程序对他们的精神健康最有帮助，而社交媒体应用程序对他们的精神健康最有负面影响。大多数患者表示有兴趣（73.9%[238/322]）并愿意（81.3%[262/322]）使用智能手机应用程序来监测他们的精神健康状况。只有不到一半（44%）的患者目前在他们的智能手机上下载了心理健康应用程序，其中正念和冥想应用程序最常见。
对心理健康应用程序的高度兴趣和使用意愿，加上目前报告的使用情况仅为中等水平，表明在精神科患者中存在潜在的未满足的治疗机会。可以优化非心理健康特定的应用程序，以更好地满足患有精神疾病的人群的需求，并设计新一代符合这些人群需求以及他们在日常生活中使用智能手机方式的心理健康应用程序。
