The DOI matches its Crossref record; 23 of the 23 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Using science to sell apps: Evaluation of mental health app store quality claims
Open accessAbstract
Despite the emergence of curated app libraries for mental health apps, personal searches by consumers remain a common method for discovering apps. App store descriptions therefore represent a key channel to inform consumer choice. This study examined the claims invoked through these app store descriptions, the extent to which scientific language is used to support such claims, and the corresponding evidence in the literature. Google Play and iTunes were searched for apps related to depression, self-harm, substance use, anxiety, and schizophrenia. The descriptions of the top-ranking, consumer-focused apps were coded to identify claims of acceptability and effectiveness, and forms of supporting statement. For apps which invoked ostensibly scientific principles, a literature search was conducted to assess their credibility. Seventy-three apps were coded, and the majority (64%) claimed effectiveness at diagnosing a mental health condition, or improving symptoms, mood or self-management. Scientific language was most frequently used to support these effectiveness claims (44%), although this included techniques not validated by literature searches (8/24 = 33%). Two apps described low-quality, primary evidence to support the use of the app. Only one app included a citation to published literature. A minority of apps (14%) described design or development involving lived experience, and none referenced certification or accreditation processes such as app libraries. Scientific language was the most frequently invoked form of support for use of mental health apps; however, high-quality evidence is not commonly described. Improved knowledge translation strategies may improve the adoption of other strategies, such as certification or lived experience co-design.
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“Other reviews have evaluated mental health apps more broadly, concluding that the quality of evidence supporting their efficacy is insufficient (Larsen et al. 2019; Wisniewski et al. 2019)”
From Evaluating the quality, safety, and functionality of commonly used smartphone apps for bipolar disorder mood and sleep self-management (2022) · cites this paper as Larsen et al. 2019
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
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“Whilst reviews of the broader BD app landscape report very low incidence of scientific evidence for available apps (Larsen et al. 2019), 55% of the apps most commonly used by individuals with BD have published evidence (albeit, with the limitations discussed above).”
From Evaluating the quality, safety, and functionality of commonly used smartphone apps for bipolar disorder mood and sleep self-management (2022) · cites this paper as Larsen et al. 2019
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Ellis, D. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108671408.007
An Analysis of Privacy Language in the Scholarly Literature on Mental Health Apps
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Privacy Language in Scholarly Literature on Mental Health Apps: Systematic Review (Preprint)Preprint
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Teaching and Evaluating Professionalism
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Kosasih, F. R., Yee, V. T. S., Toh, S. H. Y., & Sündermann, O. (2022) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2022.07.25.22278034
“97 98 Despite promising evidence on the effectiveness of mHealth apps on improving anxiety, 99 especially for mild symptom severity, there is still a limited number of applications with 100 reported effectiveness (17,18), quality (19), and evidence-based components (20).”
BackgroundDagistan, E. (2022) · Mental Health Global Challenges Journal · doi:10.56508/mhgcj.v5i2.141
“For instance, a study from 2019 showed that top-mental health apps tend to use scientific language to evoke population, without the lack of adequate evidence on their effectiveness (Larsen et al., 2019).”
BackgroundPerakslis, E. D., & Quintana, Y. (2022) · doi:10.2196/preprints.43174
A Transparency Framework for App Store Descriptions
Alhejaili, A., & Blustein, J. (2023) · Communications in computer and information science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-35989-7_56
Users’ Sophisticated Information Search Behaviour
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Krokos, O., Brandhorst, I., Seitzer, L., Gawrilow, C., & Löchner, J. (2023) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4586047
Vallely, P. (2023) · Open Access Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka (Figshare) · doi:10.26686/wgtn.24647856
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“Safer”: Design and Development of a Supportive Assistant for Emotion Regulation
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“Their features include mindfulness, assessment, crisis management, and more, based on the referenced therapeutic model [57, 58].”
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“Finally, current lifestyle apps tend to lack a proper scientific basis 33 , and thus miss an opportunity to utilise the vast amounts of research on the relationship between lifestyle factors and health outcomes which could lead to more effective strategies for improving health if incorporated.”
BackgroundTales From the Past: Adapting App Repositories to App Store Dynamics
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“The latter is a major problem [33] [34] and could be improved by automated evaluations.”
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McCabe, M., Byrne, M. L., Gullifer, J., Smart, I., Chang, C., Singh, S., Khara, G., & Cornish, K. M. (2024) · doi:10.2196/preprints.66775
di Bona, K., Ijaz, K., & Ahmadpour, N. (2024) · doi:10.2196/preprints.69833
Mental Health Apps Available in App Stores for Indian Users: Protocol for a Systematic Review
Mehrotra, S., Tripathi, R., Sengupta, P., Karishiddimath, A., Francis, A., Sharma, P., Sudhir, P. M., Srikanth, T. K., Rao, G. N., & Sagar, R. (2025) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/71071
“It has been observed that many apps in commercial app stores, including low-quality ones, make it difficult for users to identify a suitable app for various mental health conditions, and evidence-based is often lacking, even for top-rated apps in app stores [28,29].”
Attoe, C., Szekely, R., Vega, M. O., Browne, E., Thomas, R., Kwan, T., Altchouler, P., De, A., Hariharan, N., Clay, G., et al. (2025) · doi:10.2196/preprints.73963
Sakera Application as an Effort to Assess Mental Health and Self-Potential in Adolescents
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Attoe, C., Szekely, R., Vega, M. O., Browne, E., Thomas, R., Kwan, C. W. T., Altchouler, P., De, A., Hariharan, N., Clay, G., et al. (2025) · doi:10.2196/preprints.81498
Digital Mental Health: Bridging Gaps in Adolescent Mental Health Services
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Chandran, N., Beniwal, R. P., Sahu, A., Hawk, M. E., RajanBabu, A., & Deshpande, S. N. (2025) · Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1177/02537176251361710
“21,22 Hence, we aimed to assess the perceived acceptability, needs, and barriers of using mobile applications designed to increase medication adherence among people with SZ and their CG.”
Metadata
- Authors
- Larsen, M. E., Huckvale, K., Nicholas, J., Torous, J., Birrell, L., Li, E., & Reda, B.
- Affiliations
- Black Dog Institute (AU)
- Northwestern University (US)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Larsen, Mark Erik
- Venue
- npj Digital Medicine
- Published
- 2019-03-22
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 18-18
- ISSN
- 2398-6352 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6550255
- OpenAlex
- W2925166053
- Cited by
- 334
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 60 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 14
- FWCI
- 49.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- npj Digital Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Health, Technology, Consumer Behavior
- Keywords
- mental health apps, scientific language, quality of evidence, consumer choice, knowledge translation, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, substance use, self-harm, Google Play Store, iTunes
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