Smartphone Psychology: New Approaches Towards Safe and Efficacious Mobile Mental Health Apps

Title
Smartphone Psychology: New Approaches Towards Safe and Efficacious Mobile Mental Health Apps
Publication Date
2020-06
Author(s)
Marshall, Jamie M
Dunstan, Debra A
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0298-7393
Email: ddunstan@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:ddunstan
Bartik, Warren
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8344-3306
Email: wbartik@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:wbartik
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
American Psychological Association
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1037/pro0000278
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/29731
Abstract
Practicing psychologists are being faced with the reality that mobile mental health apps for smartphones and tablet devices are increasing in popularity. This growth area within e-mental health has been well documented in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. This article provides an update on the issues of safety and efficacy in mental health app development, two of the biggest concerns that practicing psychologists have about these new digital tools. Governments and medical authorities are wrestling with how to regulate the health app market to avoid harm to users. At the same time, a lack of research into the efficacy and effectiveness of most mental health apps in the various app stores leaves clinicians and consumers with uncertainty. The vast majority of the limited research to date has been completed by those involved in an app’s development. Further independent research and replication are required to demonstrate legitimacy and increase the acceptance of mental health apps as valid sources of therapy. Complicating this issue is disparity about an acceptable methodology for examining the effectiveness of a mental health app. This article proposes a new approach to incorporate multiple baseline single-case designs to increase the amount of evidence and to guide larger-scale randomized controlled trials, something that could and should include practicing psychologists. This novel approach also proposes that mental health apps undergo a new “certification” process with the participation of app store marketplaces.
Link
Citation
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 51(3), p. 214-222
ISSN
1939-1323
0735-7028
Start page
214
End page
222

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