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Cited by 228Digital Mental Health InterventionsMobile Health and mHealth ApplicationsMental Health Research Topics

Patient Smartphone Ownership and Interest in Mobile Apps to Monitor Symptoms of Mental Health Conditions: A Survey in Four Geographically Distinct Psychiatric Clinics

Open access
Torous, John, Chan, Steven Richard, Yee-Marie Tan, Shih, Behrens, Jacob, Mathew, Ian, Conrad, Erich J, Hinton, Ladson, Yellowlees, Peter +1 more·2014·JMIR Mental Health
DOI 10.2196/mental.4004PMC PMC4607390
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Abstract

Background: Despite growing interest in mobile mental health and utilization of smartphone technology to monitor psychiatric symptoms, there remains a lack of knowledge both regarding patient ownership of smartphones and their interest in using such to monitor their mental health. Objective: To provide data on psychiatric outpatients’ prevalence of smartphone ownership and interest in using their smartphones to run applications to monitor their mental health. Methods: We surveyed 320 psychiatric outpatients from four clinics around the United States in order to capture a geographically and socioeconomically diverse patient population. These comprised a state clinic in Massachusetts (n=108), a county clinic in California (n=56), a hybrid public and private clinic in Louisiana (n=50), and a private/university clinic in Wisconsin (n=106). Results: Smartphone ownership and interest in utilizing such to monitor mental health varied by both clinic type and age with overall ownership of 62.5% (200/320), which is slightly higher than the average United States’ rate of ownership of 58% in January 2014. Overall patient interest in utilizing smartphones to monitor symptoms was 70.6% (226/320). Conclusions: These results suggest that psychiatric outpatients are interested in using their smartphones to monitor their mental health and own the smartphones capable of running mental healthcare related mobile applications.

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  • Empirical studies on evidence-based digital interventions for mental health, including internet-based CBT, have shown that these interventions are effective, feasible, and acceptable to users.

    “Empirical studies on evidence-based digital interventions for mental health, including internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), have shown that these interventions are effective, feasible, and acceptable to users [12-14]”

    From Engagement and effectiveness of a healthy-coping intervention via chatbot for university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Mixed methods proof-of-concept study (2021) · cites this paper as [12]

    The Discussion (Principal Findings; no page number in our copy) reports that 72% of surveyed psychiatric patients were willing to use an app to monitor their mental health, supporting potential user interest and feasibility. The Limitations section says those responses were hypothetical, and the Conclusions identify clinically effective apps as a future challenge. This survey does not establish that digital interventions, including internet-based CBT, are effective or acceptable in actual use. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Individuals with mental disorders are increasingly gaining access to and using mobile devices, such as smartphones.

    “Recent studies have shown that individuals with mental disorders are increasingly gaining access to and using mobile devices, such as smartphones”

    From Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice (2020) · cites this paper as Torous, Chan, et al., 2014

    The Discussion’s Principal Findings report that 62.5% of surveyed psychiatric outpatients owned smartphones and that 70.6% were interested in using them to monitor symptoms. The paper predicts that access and engagement will grow, but its survey does not establish that ownership or actual use was increasing over time. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Authors
Torous, J., Chan, S. R., Yee-Marie Tan, S., Behrens, J., Mathew, I., Conrad, E. J., Hinton, L., Yellowlees, P., & Keshavan, M.
Affiliations
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
  • University of California Davis Medical Center (US)
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
  • Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans (US)
Corresponding author
Torous, John
ORCID
Venue
JMIR Mental Health
Publisher
JMIR Publications Inc.
Published
2014-12-23
Volume
1
Issue
1
Pages
e5
ISSN
2368-7959 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2196/mental.4004
PMC
PMC4607390
OpenAlex
W2029454745
Cited by
228
References
10
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 15
FWCI
26.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • JMIR Mental Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
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
smartphone ownership, mobile mental health, mental health apps, symptom monitoring, psychiatric outpatients, age differences

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