Gill Harleen, Hippman Catriona, Hanft-Robert Saskia, Nugent Lena, Nováček Ondřej, Kamel Mostafa M, Ryan Deirdre, Demlová Regina, Krausz Michael, Tabi Katarina
Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
BC Reproductive Mental Health Program, BC Women's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada.
Digit Health. 2025 Mar 17;11:20552076251325951. doi: 10.1177/20552076251325951. eCollection 2025 Jan-Dec.
The number of mobile apps tailored for people living with mental health conditions has increased tremendously. However, the majority of the existing apps are not evidence-based and are being developed by teams without mental health expertise.
We aimed to explore psychiatrists' perceptions of what they and their patients need in a mental health app and eventually inform the design of future mobile apps in this area.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with psychiatrists (= 18) from three European countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Content analysis using inductive and deductive coding was used to analyze the interviews.
Four major themes were deductively identified: current system, gaps in the current system, recommendations for a mobile app, and promoting app use. Psychiatrists provided a comprehensive list of app features they suggested would be helpful. Of particular importance seemed to be enabling patients to self-monitor various aspects of their lives and including an emergency plan. Participants also emphasized that the app should be positive and motivating for patients to use, with some suggesting that users be able to communicate with other users for support. Within the theme of "current system," a common topic was the current shortage of psychiatrists and the feelings of time pressure amongst existing psychiatrists.
The results of this study can be used by software developers to inform future designs of mental health mobile apps, which will hopefully translate to a greater availability of evidence-based apps that address clinical needs.
为心理健康状况患者量身定制的移动应用程序数量大幅增加。然而，现有的大多数应用程序都缺乏循证依据，并且是由没有心理健康专业知识的团队开发的。
我们旨在探讨精神科医生对于心理健康应用程序中他们自身以及患者需求的看法，并最终为该领域未来移动应用程序的设计提供参考。
对来自奥地利、捷克共和国和斯洛伐克这三个欧洲国家的18名精神科医生进行了半结构化访谈。采用归纳和演绎编码的内容分析法对访谈进行分析。
归纳出四个主要主题：当前系统、当前系统的不足、移动应用程序的建议以及促进应用程序的使用。精神科医生提供了一份他们认为会有帮助的应用程序功能的综合清单。特别重要的似乎是使患者能够自我监测生活的各个方面并包含一个应急计划。参与者还强调，该应用程序应该积极且能激励患者使用，一些人建议用户能够与其他用户交流以获得支持。在“当前系统”主题中，一个常见的话题是当前精神科医生短缺以及现有精神科医生的时间压力感。
本研究结果可供软件开发人员用于为未来心理健康移动应用程序的设计提供参考，有望带来更多满足临床需求的循证应用程序。
