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Vagus Nerve Stimulation As an Adjunctive Neurostimulation Tool in Treatment-resistant Depression

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Functionality of Top-Rated Mobile Apps for Depression: Systematic Search and Evaluation.

Chengcheng Qu¹, Corina Sas¹, Claudia Daudén Roquet¹

¹School of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom.

JMIR Mental Health

|February 4, 2020

Summary

Top depression apps offer diverse features but lack clear privacy policies and age targeting. Guidelines are needed to ensure user safety and data protection for these mental health tools.

Keywords:

depression ethics mHealth mobile apps review

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Area of Science:

Digital mental health
Mobile health applications
Psychiatry

Background:

Proliferation of mobile apps for depression support.
Unclear functionality and target audience of existing depression apps.

Purpose of the Study:

Explore key features of top-rated depression apps.
Analyze descriptive characteristics, functionality, and ethical concerns.
Inform future app design for depression.

Main Methods:

Systematic analysis of top-rated iOS and Android depression apps.
Data collection from app marketplaces and direct app usage.
In-depth analysis of screening, tracking, and intervention features.

Main Results:

Majority of apps specify evidence base (62%) and fewer report clinical input (41%).
All apps rated suitable for children/adolescents, but 83% lack consistent privacy policies.
Common functions include interventions (83%), tracking (66%), and screening (31%); some apps contain negative content.

Conclusions:

Top depression apps offer diverse functionality but require guidelines for privacy and safety.
Need for clear age targeting and transparent data sharing policies.
Opportunity to enhance harm mitigation, personalization, and multimodal content tracking.