Mental Health Mobile Apps in the French App Store: Assessment Study of Functionality and Quality

Abstract

Background: Approximately 800 million people, representing 11% of the world's population, are affected by mental health problems. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated problems and triggered a decline in well-being, with drastic increase in the incidence of conditions such as anxiety, depression, and stress. Approximately 20,000 mental health apps are listed in mobile app stores. However, no significant evaluation of mental health apps in French, spoken by approximately 300 million people, has been identified in the literature yet.

Objective: This study aims to review the mental health mobile apps currently available on the French Apple App Store and Google Play Store and to evaluate their quality using Mobile App Rating Scale-French (MARS-F).

Methods: Screening of mental health apps was conducted from June 10, 2022, to June 17, 2022, on the French Apple App Store and Google Play Store. A shortlist of 12 apps was identified using the criteria of selection and assessed using MARS-F by 9 mental health professionals. Intraclass correlation was used to evaluate interrater agreement. Mean (SD) scores and their distributions for each section and item were calculated.

Results: The highest scores for MARS-F quality were obtained by Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa (mean 3.85, SD 0.48), Evoluno (mean 3.54, SD 0.72), and Teale (mean 3.53, SD 0.87). Mean engagement scores (section A) ranged from 2.33 (SD 0.69) for Reflexe reussite to 3.80 (SD 0.61) for Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa. Mean aesthetics scores (section C) ranged from 2.52 (SD 0.62) for Mental Booster to 3.89 (SD 0.69) for Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa. Mean information scores (section D) ranged from 2.00 (SD 0.75) for Mental Booster to 3.46 (SD 0.77) for Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa. Mean Mobile App Rating Scale subjective quality (section E) score varied from 1.22 (SD 0.26) for VOS - journal de l'humeur to 2.69 (SD 0.84) for Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa. Mean app specificity (section F) score varied from 1.56 (SD 0.97) for Mental Booster to 3.31 (SD 1.22) for Evoluno. For all the mental health apps studied, except Soutien psy avec Mon Sherpa (11/12, 92%), the subjective quality score was always lower than the app specificity score, which was always lower than the MARS-F quality score, and that was lower than the rating score from the iPhone Operating System or Android app stores.

Conclusions: Mental health professionals assessed that, despite the lack of scientific evidence, the mental health mobile apps available on the French Apple App Store and Google Play Store were of good quality. However, they are reluctant to use them in their professional practice. Additional investigations are needed to assess their compliance with recommendations and their long-term impact on users.

Keywords: French; behavior change; lifestyle; mHealth; mental; mobile apps; mobile health; prevention; well-being.

Figure 1

Flowchart of mental health mobile apps selection. iOS: iPhone Operating System.

Figure 2

Qualitative evaluation of mental health mobile apps—section A: engagement, section B: functionality, section C: esthetics, and section D: information.

Figure 3

Qualitative (sections A, B, C, and D) and subjective qualitative (section E) evaluation of mental health mobile apps.

Figure 4

App-specific scores of mental health mobile apps (section F).

Figure 5

Heat map of the average scores for each item and each app. The colors are related to the scores and range from yellow (1=worst score) to green (5=best score).