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. 2021 Mar 22;18(6):3289.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18063289.

"Smartphone Apps Are Cool, But Do They Help Me?": A Qualitative Interview Study of Adolescents' Perspectives on Using Smartphone Interventions to Manage Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

Anja Čuš  1 , Julian Edbrooke-Childs  2   3 , Susanne Ohmann  1 , Paul L Plener  1   4 , Türkan Akkaya-Kalayci  1
Affiliations

"Smartphone Apps Are Cool, But Do They Help Me?": A Qualitative Interview Study of Adolescents' Perspectives on Using Smartphone Interventions to Manage Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

Anja Čuš et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a major mental health problem associated with negative psychosocial outcomes and it most often starts in early adolescence. Despite this, adolescents are rarely involved in informing the development of interventions designed to address their mental health problems. This study aimed to (1) assess adolescents' needs and preferences about future interventions that are delivered through smartphones and (2) develop a framework with implications for designing engaging digital mental health interventions. Fifteen adolescent girls, aged 12-18 years, who met diagnostic criteria for a current NSSI disorder and were in contact with mental health services, participated in semi-structured interviews. Following a reflexive thematic analysis approach, this study identified two main themes: (1) Experiences of NSSI (depicts the needs of young people related to their everyday experiences of managing NSSI) and (2) App in Context (portrays preferences of young people about smartphone interventions and reflects adolescents' views on how technology itself can improve or hinder engaging with these interventions). Adolescent patients expressed interest in using smartphone mental health interventions if they recognize them as helpful, relevant for their life situation and easy to use. The developed framework suggests that digital mental health interventions are embedded in three contexts (i.e., person using the intervention, mental health condition, and technology-related factors) which together need to inform the development of engaging digital resources. To achieve this, the cooperation among people with lived experience, mental health experts, and human computer interaction professionals is vital.

Keywords: NSSI; adolescence; design framework; design implications; mHealth; mental health; qualitative study; smartphone apps; user engagement; user perspectives.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. P.L.P. has received research funding from the German federal ministry of research and education (BMBF), the German federal agency for drugs and medical products (BfArM), the Baden-Wuerttemberg Foundation, Lundbeck, Servier and the Volkswagen Foundation. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Thematic map representing themes and their subthemes. (NSSI = Nonsuicidal self-injury).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Framework for designing engaging digital mental health interventions derived from the context of NSSI.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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