Using Mobile Apps to Support People with Implementing Coping-relevant Behaviour Change Techniques for Stress Self-management
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: UCL Interaction Centre
Abstract
Increasing numbers of youths with depression and anxiety symptoms and the lack of enough specilists to help them (Merry, 2012) highlights the need for more relevant, accessible and targeted approaches for treatments. Numerous studies have shown that young people tend to gravitate towards gaming and that serious videogames are effective in changing health-related behaviour (Baranowsky, 2011). It is proposed to tackle the issues of inaccessibility of professionals as well as self motivation to seek out care by developing a serious videogame/mobile app that would diagnose, offer customised treatment and preventative care by establishing resilience to environmental stressors from an early age.
The work will be carried out in 3 phases - phase 1 will seek to determine factors contributing to motivation, while phase 2 will explore what types of information would improve a game's or app's effectiveness (eg healthy lifestyle information). Phase 2 will also involve game/app design workshops with youths to ensure the game/app is relevant to this potential user group as well as building and test protoypes. The final phase will involve usability testing of a fully working version of the game/app with follow-up testing over longer periods (3 months+). It is hoped to pursue longitudinal studies as well to establish effectiveness in the longer term.
The work will be carried out in 3 phases - phase 1 will seek to determine factors contributing to motivation, while phase 2 will explore what types of information would improve a game's or app's effectiveness (eg healthy lifestyle information). Phase 2 will also involve game/app design workshops with youths to ensure the game/app is relevant to this potential user group as well as building and test protoypes. The final phase will involve usability testing of a fully working version of the game/app with follow-up testing over longer periods (3 months+). It is hoped to pursue longitudinal studies as well to establish effectiveness in the longer term.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Anna Cox (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Nora Ptakauskaite (Student) |
| Description | Chronic stress is a major public health issue, which ends up costing the NHS around £71.1 million each year. Mobile apps can act as accessible and cost-effective platforms for delivering stress management interventions. However, research shows that the currently available apps are not as effective as face-to-face treatments. The aim of this thesis was therefore to improve the efficacy of existing stress management apps by understanding where improvements could be made. This was achieved through a series of app reviews and intervention studies using existing and newly designed tools. One of the most effective ways of managing stress is by understanding what the sources of stress are and then working towards managing these. The first key finding is that the currently available apps on the app stores do not adequately support their users with self-monitoring (understanding) and stress management. Self-monitoring and data visualisation are ineffective in providing people with insights about their stress during the early stages of the app's use. This is because not enough data is yet collected for significant correlations and trends to emerge. Relatedly, existing apps lack features that can help people apply their insights to form effective stress management strategies. Findings from 4 intervention studies revealed that the above gaps can be filled by using techniques known as reflective questioning and problem-solving. Reflective questioning helps make peoples' implicit knowledge about their stress and what causes it more explicit without the need to collect data. Relatedly, problem-solving helps people apply this knowledge to form effective stress management strategies. An intervention study using both reflective questioning and problem-solving features implemented into a chatbot revealed that the addition of these features significantly improved on the efficacy of an existing stress monitoring app. |
| Exploitation Route | These findings can help inform app developers on how the efficacy of mental wellbeing apps can be improved. In turn, this can provide the general public with access to more effective treatments. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Healthcare |
| URL | https://getamoveon.ac.uk/funded-projects/manage-stress |
| Description | My initial research findings and consultations were used to help inform the design of Felmo stress management app. At the time of writing, Felmo is still in its early stages of development (not by me). More info can be found here: https://feelmo.substack.com/p/weekly-up-update-1 My later stage PhD findings were used to inform and build the Helix resilience chatbot for mental and physical wellbeing: https://helixresilience.com/ I am currently working on building this product, the early version of which should be available to 30,000+ users by September 2021. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Societal |