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. 2021 Feb 26;5(2):e18172.
doi: 10.2196/18172.

Co-Designing a Mobile App to Improve Mental Health and Well-Being: Focus Group Study

Felwah Alqahtani  1   2 , Andrea Winn  1 , Rita Orji  1
Affiliations

Co-Designing a Mobile App to Improve Mental Health and Well-Being: Focus Group Study

Felwah Alqahtani et al. JMIR Form Res. .

Abstract

Background: Recent advances in mobile technology have created opportunities to develop mobile apps to aid and assist people in achieving various health and wellness goals. Mental health apps hold significant potential to assist people affected by various mental health issues at any time they may need it, considering the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones. However, there is a need for research to explore and understand end users' perceptions, needs, and concerns with respect to such technologies.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to explore the opinions, perceptions, preferences, and experiences of people who have experienced some form of mental health issues based on self-diagnosis to inform the design of a next-generation mental health app that would be substantially more engaging and effective than the currently available apps to improve mental health and well-being.

Methods: We conducted six focus group sessions with people who had experienced mental health issues based on self-diagnosis (average age 26.7 years, SD 23.63; 16/32, 50% male; 16/32, 50% female). We asked participants about their experiences with mental health issues and their viewpoints regarding two existing mental health apps (the Happify app and the Self-Help Anxiety Management app). Finally, participants were engaged in a design session where they each sketched a design for their ideal mental health and well-being mobile app.

Results: Our findings revealed that participants used strategies to deal with their mental health issues: doing something to distract themselves from their current negative mood, using relaxation exercises and methods to relieve symptoms, interacting with others to share their issues, looking for an external source to solve their problems, and motivating themselves by repeating motivational sentences to support themselves or by following inspirational people. Moreover, regarding the design of mental health apps, participants identified that general design characteristics; personalization of the app, including tracking and feedback, live support, and social community; and providing motivational content and relaxation exercises are the most important features that users want in a mental health app. In contrast, games, relaxation audio, the Google map function, personal assistance to provide suggestions, goal setting, and privacy preservation were surprisingly the least requested features.

Conclusions: Understanding end users' needs and concerns about mental health apps will inform the future design of mental health apps that are useful to and used by many people.

Keywords: design recommendation; focus groups; mental health; mobile app; mobile phone.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Codes generated from each phase (1, 2, and 3) in order from left to right.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Themes generated from each phase (1, 2, and 3) in order from left to right.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Three implementation ideas of a tracking feature were generated by participants: (1) simple tracker using a set of smiley faces, (2) using a set of emotion words, and (3) labeling one’s emotions in detail.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Three implementation ideas of a suggestion feature: (1) suggesting activities based on the moods entered, (2) providing suggestions to improve one’s mood based on collected data, and (3) providing general suggestions.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Three implementation ideas of a live support feature: (1) including therapists that users can contact and the ability to text them; (2) the ability to set up meetings with a live coach, and (3) the ability to call for help, contact a friend, or search for a therapist.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Three implementation ideas of a personalization feature: (1) asking a set of questions when setting up the app; (2) including a profile with users’ likes, dislikes, and what makes users happy; and (3) customizing the layout and theme of the app.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Three implementation ideas of a social support feature were generated by participants: (1) ability to reply to a comment, (2) ability to chat privately, and (3) ability to upload pictures in the chat room.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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