Čuš, A;
Edbrooke-Childs, J;
Ohmann, S;
Plener, PL;
Akkaya-Kalayci, T;
(2021)
“Smartphone apps are cool, but do they help me?”: A qualitative interview study of adolescents’ perspectives on using smartphone interventions to manage nonsuicidal self-injury.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
, 18
(6)
, Article 3289. 10.3390/ijerph18063289.
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Abstract
Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a major mental health problem associated with negative psychosocial outcomes and it most often starts in early adolescence. Despite this, adolescents are rarely involved in informing the development of interventions designed to address their mental health problems. This study aimed to (1) assess adolescents’ needs and preferences about future interventions that are delivered through smartphones and (2) develop a framework with implications for designing engaging digital mental health interventions. Fifteen adolescent girls, aged 12– 18 years, who met diagnostic criteria for a current NSSI disorder and were in contact with mental health services, participated in semi-structured interviews. Following a reflexive thematic analysis approach, this study identified two main themes: (1) Experiences of NSSI (depicts the needs of young people related to their everyday experiences of managing NSSI) and (2) App in Context (por-trays preferences of young people about smartphone interventions and reflects adolescents’ views on how technology itself can improve or hinder engaging with these interventions). Adolescent patients expressed interest in using smartphone mental health interventions if they recognize them as helpful, relevant for their life situation and easy to use. The developed framework suggests that digital mental health interventions are embedded in three contexts (i.e., person using the interven-tion, mental health condition, and technology-related factors) which together need to inform the development of engaging digital resources. To achieve this, the cooperation among people with lived experience, mental health experts, and human computer interaction professionals is vital.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | “Smartphone apps are cool, but do they help me?”: A qualitative interview study of adolescents’ perspectives on using smartphone interventions to manage nonsuicidal self-injury |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/ijerph18063289 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063289 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited |
| Keywords: | NSSI; mHealth; mental health; smartphone apps; adolescence; qualitative study; user perspectives; user engagement; design framework; design implications |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10126076 |
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