Abstract
BackgroundThe access to empirically-supported treatments for common mental disorders in children and adolescents is often limited. Mental health apps might extend service supplies, as they are deemed to be cost-efficient, scalable and appealing for youth. However, little is known about the quality of available apps. Therefore, we aimed to systematically evaluate current mobile-based interventions for pediatric anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).MethodsSystematic searches were conducted in Google Play Store and Apple App Store to identify relevant apps. To be eligible for inclusion, apps needed to be: (1) designed to target either anxiety, depression or PTSD in youth (0–18 years); (2) developed for children, adolescents or caregivers; (3) provided in English or German; (4) operative after download. The quality of eligible apps was assessed with two standardized rating systems (i.e., Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) and ENLIGHT) independently by two reviewers.ResultsOverall, the searches revealed 3806 apps, with 15 mental health apps (0.39%) fulfilling our inclusion criteria. The mean overall scores suggested a moderate app quality (MARS: M = 3.59, SD = 0.50; ENLIGHT: M = 3.22, SD = 0.73). Moreover, only one app was evaluated in an RCT. The correlation of both rating scales was high (r = .936; p < .001), whereas no significant correlations were found between rating scales and user ratings (p > .05).ConclusionsOur results point to a rather poor overall app quality, and indicate an absence of scientific-driven development and lack of methodologically sound evaluation of apps. Thus, future high-quality research is required, both in terms of theoretically informed intervention development and assessment of mental health apps in RCTs. Furthermore, institutionalized best-practices that provide central information on different aspects of apps (e.g., effectiveness, safety, and data security) for patients, caregivers, stakeholders and mental health professionals are urgently needed.
Highlights
The access to empirically-supported treatments for common mental disorders in children and ado‐ lescents is often limited
Depression and posttraumatic stress disorder are prevalent in children and adolescents, with increasing incidence rates worldwide [3,4,5]
Search strategy and inclusion criteria A systematic search for mobile health applications (MHA) targeting anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children and adolescents was conducted by using an automatic search engine that was developed within the mobile health app database project
Summary
The access to empirically-supported treatments for common mental disorders in children and ado‐ lescents is often limited. Depression and posttraumatic stress disorder are prevalent in children and adolescents, with increasing incidence rates worldwide [3,4,5]. The availability and uptake rates of conventional evidence-based psychotherapies remain low [13], due to different individual and structural barriers, like shortage of mental healthcare supplies, longwaiting times, limitations in mobility, and high treatment costs or fear of stigmatization [14, 15]. Innovative and scalable solutions to lessen this treatment gap are urgently needed; and these novel interventions have to prove their empirical support in terms of various aspects of evidence-based medicine/psychotherapy, such as efficacy and effectiveness, quality or intervention safety
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