Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul 6;22(7):e16228.
doi: 10.2196/16228.

The Acceptability and Usability of Digital Health Interventions for Adults With Depression, Anxiety, and Somatoform Disorders: Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis

Shireen Patel  1 , Athfah Akhtar  2 , Sam Malins  1 , Nicola Wright  3 , Emma Rowley  4 , Emma Young  5 , Stephanie Sampson  6 , Richard Morriss  1   5   6
Affiliations

The Acceptability and Usability of Digital Health Interventions for Adults With Depression, Anxiety, and Somatoform Disorders: Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis

Shireen Patel et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of mental health disorders continues to rise, with almost 4% of the world population having an anxiety disorder and almost 3.5% having depression in 2017. Despite the high prevalence, only one-third of people with depression or anxiety receive treatment. Over the last decade, the use of digital health interventions (DHIs) has risen rapidly as a means of accessing mental health care and continues to increase. Although there is evidence supporting the effectiveness of DHIs for the treatment of mental health conditions, little is known about what aspects are valued by users and how they might be improved.

Objective: This systematic review aimed to identify, appraise, and synthesize the qualitative literature available on service users' views and experiences regarding the acceptability and usability of DHIs for depression, anxiety, and somatoform disorders.

Methods: A systematic search strategy was developed, and searches were run in 7 electronic databases. Qualitative and mixed methods studies published in English were included. A meta-synthesis was used to interpret and synthesize the findings from the included studies.

Results: A total of 24 studies were included in the meta-synthesis, and 3 key themes emerged with descriptive subthemes. The 3 key themes were initial motivations and approaches to DHIs, personalization of treatment, and the value of receiving personal support in DHIs. The meta-synthesis suggests that participants' initial beliefs about DHIs can have an important effect on their engagement with these types of interventions. Personal support was valued very highly as a major component of the success of DHIs. The main reason for this was the way it enabled individual personalization of care.

Conclusions: Findings from the systematic review have implications for the design of future DHIs to improve uptake, retention, and outcomes in DHIs for depression, anxiety, and somatoform disorders. DHIs need to be personalized to the specific needs of the individual. Future research should explore whether the findings could be generalized to other health conditions.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; digital health interventions; mobile phone; smartphone; somatoform disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of study identification and selection adapted from Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Stansfeld S, Clark C, Bebbington P. Common mental disorders. In: McManus S, Bebbington P, Jenkins R, Brugha R, editors. Mental Health and Wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. Leeds, UK: NHS Digital; 2016. pp. 1–32.
    1. Ritchie H, Roser M. Our World in Data. 2019. [2019-08-15]. Mental Health https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health.
    1. Edwards T, Stern A, Clarke D, Ivbijaro G, Kasney L. The treatment of patients with medically unexplained symptoms in primary care: a review of the literature. Ment Health Fam Med. 2010 Dec;7(4):209–21. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/22477945 - PMC - PubMed
    1. OECD. European Union . Health at a Glance: Europe 2018 State of Health in the EU Cycle. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2018.
    1. Kessler RC, Merikangas KR, Wang PS. Prevalence, comorbidity, and service utilization for mood disorders in the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2007;3:137–58. doi: 10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091444. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types