A review of youth mental health promotion apps towards their fit with youth media preferences

T.  Michel; F.  Tachtler; P.  Slovak; G.  Fitzpatrick

Research Article

A review of youth mental health promotion apps towards their fit with youth media preferences

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@ARTICLE{10.4108/eai.13-7-2018.161419,
    author={T.  Michel and F.  Tachtler and P.  Slovak and G.  Fitzpatrick},
    title={A review of youth mental health promotion apps towards their fit with youth media preferences},
    journal={EAI Endorsed Transactions on Pervasive Health and Technology},
    volume={5},
    number={17},
    publisher={EAI},
    journal_a={PHAT},
    year={2019},
    month={2},
    keywords={Healthcare technology, Patients’ needs, Applications},
    doi={10.4108/eai.13-7-2018.161419}
}

T. Michel
F. Tachtler
P. Slovak
G. Fitzpatrick
Year: 2019
A review of youth mental health promotion apps towards their fit with youth media preferences
PHAT
EAI
DOI: 10.4108/eai.13-7-2018.161419

T. Michel¹^,*, F. Tachtler¹, P. Slovak², G. Fitzpatrick¹

1: Department of Informatics, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
2: Department of Informatics, King’s College, London, UK

*Contact email: toni.michel@tuwien.ac.at

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Mental health promotion apps can promote youth mental health but fail to engage young people. Fit to young people’s media preferences is known to mediate engagement.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the fit of existing youth mental health apps with young people’s media preferences.

METHODS: A workshop with 60 youth psychologists elicits designs of digital mental health interventions. A review of 29 youth mental health apps unpacks their modality strategies. We then compare modality strategies from literature on youth mental health, media preferences and engagement, and from the experts, with strategies in current mental health apps to identify potential fit problems.

RESULTS: There is a mismatch between young people’s modality preferences and how youth mental health apps deliver their content.

CONCLUSION: There is a need to make youth mental health promotion apps more interactive and tailorable, featuring dynamic visuals and social connectivity, to better engage youth.

Keywords: Healthcare technology, Patients’ needs, Applications

Received: 2018-12-23
Accepted: 2019-02-08
Published: 2019-02-12
Publisher: EAI

: http://dx.doi.org/10.4108/eai.13-7-2018.161419

Copyright © 2019 T. Michel et al., licensed to EAI. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unlimited use, distribution and reproduction in any medium so long as the original work is properly cited.