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Cited by 73Digital Mental Health InterventionsMobile Health and mHealth ApplicationsMental Health Research Topics

A mobile phone application for the assessment and management of youth mental health problems in primary care: health service outcomes from a randomised controlled trial of mobiletype

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Reid, Sophie C, Kauer, Sylvia D, Hearps, Stephen J C, Crooke, Alexander H D, Khor, Angela S, Sanci, Lena A, Patton, George C·2013·BMC Family Practice
DOI 10.1186/1471-2296-14-84PMC PMC3716527
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: GPs detect at best 50c of mental health problems in young people. Barriers to detecting mental health problems include lack of screening tools, limited appointment times and young people's reluctance to report mental health symptoms to GPs. The mobiletype program is a mobile phone mental health assessment and management application which monitors mood, stress and everyday activities then transmits this information to general practitioners (GPs) via a secure website in summary format for medical review. The current aims were to examine: (i) mobiletype as a clinical assistance tool, ii) doctor-patient rapport and, iii) pathways to care. METHODS: We conducted a randomised controlled trial in primary care with patients aged 14 to 24 years recruited from rural and metropolitan general practices. GPs identified and referred eligible participants (those with mild or more mental health concerns) who were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (where mood, stress and daily activities were monitored) or the attention-comparison group (where only daily activities were monitored). Both groups self-monitored for 2 to 4 weeks and reviewed the monitoring data with their GP. GPs, participants and researchers were blind to group allocation at randomisation. GPs assessed the mobiletype program as a clinical assistant tool. Doctor-patient rapport was assessed using the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire Communication and Enablement subscales, and the Trust in Physician Scale (TPS). Pathways to care was measured using The Party Project's Exit Interview. RESULTS: Of the 163 participants assessed for eligibility, 118 were randomised and 114 participants were included in analyses (intervention n = 68, attention-comparison n = 46). T-tests showed that the intervention program increased understanding of patient mental health, assisted in decisions about medication/referral and helped in diagnosis when compared to the attention-comparison program. Mixed model analysis showed no differences in GP-patient rapport nor in pathways to care. CONCLUSIONS: We conducted the first RCT of a mobile phone application in the mental health assessment and management of youth mental health in primary care. This study suggests that mobiletype has much to offer GPs in the often difficult and time-consuming task of assessment and management of youth mental health problems in primary care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00794222.

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  • Two studies had negative effect sizes indicating that the control group had lower depression scores at post-test than the intervention group.

    “Two studies had negative effect sizes indicating that the control group had lower depression scores at post-test than the intervention group (59, 74).”

    From What Works and What Doesn’t Work? A Systematic Review of Digital Mental Health Interventions for Depression and Anxiety in Young People (2019) · cites this paper as [59]

    The Results report effect sizes for GP-rated clinical assistance and post-test scores for GP confidence and doctor–patient rapport, not depression scores. I searched the paper for depression outcomes and a post-test comparison between groups, but found no passage establishing a negative effect size for depression. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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Authors
Reid, S. C., Kauer, S. D., Hearps, S. J. C., Crooke, A. H. D., Khor, A. S., Sanci, L. A., & Patton, G. C.
Affiliations
  • Royal Children's Hospital (AU)
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
Corresponding author
Reid, Sophie C
ORCID
Venue
BMC Family Practice
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2013-06-19
Volume
14
Issue
1
Pages
84-84
ISSN
1471-2296 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/1471-2296-14-84
PMC
PMC3716527
OpenAlex
W2164458026
Cited by
73
References
36
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
FWCI
8.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Family Practice (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)
Funders
  • Telstra Foundation
  • Australian Rotary Health
  • Shepherd Foundation
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
Keywords
youth mental health, mobile application, primary care, general practitioners, mental health screening, self-monitoring, physician-patient rapport, pathways to care, clinical decision support, youth
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Affect, Alcohol Drinking, Mental Disorders, Communication, Diet, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Male, Marijuana Smoking, Motor Activity, Physician-Patient Relations, Primary Health Care, Sleep, Stress, Psychological, Young Adult, General Practice, Mobile Applications

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