Stress Management Apps With Regard to Emotion-Focused Coping and Behavior Change Techniques: A Content Analysis.

Corinna Anna Christmann,Alexandra Hoffmann,Gabriele Bleser

doi:10.2196/mhealth.6471

Abstract

BackgroundChronic stress has been shown to be associated with disease. This link is not only direct but also indirect through harmful health behavior such as smoking or changing eating habits. The recent mHealth trend offers a new and promising approach to support the adoption and maintenance of appropriate stress management techniques. However, only few studies have dealt with the inclusion of evidence-based content within stress management apps for mobile phones.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate stress management apps on the basis of a new taxonomy of effective emotion-focused stress management techniques and an established taxonomy of behavior change techniques.MethodsTwo trained and independent raters evaluated 62 free apps found in Google Play with regard to 26 behavior change and 15 emotion-focused stress management techniques in October 2015.ResultsThe apps included an average of 4.3 behavior change techniques (SD 4.2) and 2.8 emotion-focused stress management techniques (SD 2.6). The behavior change technique score and stress management technique score were highly correlated (r=.82, P=.01).ConclusionsThe broad variation of different stress management strategies found in this sample of apps goes in line with those found in conventional stress management interventions and self-help literature. Moreover, this study provided a first step toward more detailed and standardized taxonomies, which can be used to investigate evidence-based content in stress management interventions and enable greater comparability between different intervention types.

Highlights

Chronic stress has been shown to influence people’s physical and mental well-being [1,2]
The broad variation of different stress management strategies found in this sample of apps goes in line with those found in conventional stress management interventions and self-help literature
In line with this idea based on app descriptions, only apps were chosen that target stress management and well-being; (2) To ensure applicability for a broader range of people, the respective apps should target healthy adults and not specific groups, medical conditions, or weight management; because apps targeting a specific group have different requirements compared with stress management apps for healthy adults; (3) Apps that require membership of a company were excluded for the same reason

Summary

Introduction

Chronic stress has been shown to influence people’s physical and mental well-being [1,2]. Chronic stress and health are linked indirectly through stress-related behaviors such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle, poor eating habits, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as insufficient therapy adherence [2,4]. Two broad types of stress management can be distinguished: problem-focused and emotion-focused coping [6]. Chronic stress has been shown to be associated with disease. This link is direct and indirect through harmful health behavior such as smoking or changing eating habits. The recent mHealth trend offers a new and promising approach to support the adoption and maintenance of appropriate stress management techniques. Only few studies have dealt with the inclusion of evidence-based content within stress management apps for mobile phones

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion