A Pilot Evaluation of a Smartphone Application for Workplace Depression

Area of Science:

• Digital mental health interventions
• Occupational health psychology
• Mobile health (mHealth) applications

Background:

• Mobile apps offer a promising avenue for delivering mental health interventions to large populations.
• Targeting interventions to at-risk groups, such as stressed working adults, is crucial for maximizing impact.
• Common mental disorders, including depression and anxiety, significantly affect the working population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the usability, feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of the Anchored app.
• To evaluate the app's impact on depressive symptoms in a stressed working population.
• To explore secondary outcomes including anxiety, wellbeing, stress, resilience, and alcohol use.

Main Methods:

• A pre-post pilot study design was employed.
• Participants (N=81) were Australian employed adults reporting elevated stress, recruited via social media.
• The Anchored app provided a 30-day program of mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy components.

Main Results:

• Significant reductions in depressive symptoms (p < 0.001) and anxiety symptoms (p < 0.001) were observed.
• A notable decrease in new onset depression cases was found (24% vs. 6%, p = 0.012).
• Improvements in wellbeing, resilience, stress, and alcohol use were significant; no changes in work performance or absenteeism were reported.

Conclusions:

• The Anchored app is a usable, feasible, and acceptable intervention for stressed working adults.
• Preliminary findings suggest the app has potentially beneficial effects on mental health outcomes.
• Further randomized controlled trials are warranted to confirm efficacy for workplace mental ill-health.