Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2025
06:58
An Application for Pairing with Wearable Devices to Monitor Personal Health Status
Published on: February 3, 2022
2.8K
The Appa Health App for Youth Mental Health: Development and Usability Study.
Alison Giovanelli1,2, Tahilin Sanchez Karver3, Katrina D Roundfield2,4
1Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
JMIR Formative Research
|October 4, 2023
Summary
Appa Health, a new app, uses trained mentors and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) videos to help adolescents with depression and anxiety. The pilot program showed significant improvements in youth mental health and program satisfaction.
Area of Science:
- Digital mental health interventions
- Adolescent psychology
- Evidence-based treatment delivery
Background:
- Increased demand for adolescent mental health services post-COVID-19 pandemic strains traditional care models.
- Mentors, with proper training, can effectively support youth with depression and anxiety using strategies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
- Web-based platforms and digital tools can reduce barriers to accessing mental health support for young people.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and assess the feasibility and acceptability of Appa Health (Appa), a novel mental health mentoring program for youth.
- To evaluate a 12-week smartphone app program combining near-peer mentorship with CBT skills delivered via short-form videos.
- To explore preliminary quantitative and qualitative outcomes of the Appa program.
Main Methods:
- Collaborative development with youth, clinical, and research advisory boards.
- Pilot study involving 14 teenagers with depression/anxiety symptoms paired with 10 mentors, matched on characteristics like gender, race, and LGBTQ+ status.
- Assessment using standard measures (PHQ-8, GAD-7) combined with qualitative feedback on program, mentors, and CBT content.
Main Results:
- 100% of teenage participants reported feeling better after the 12-week program.
- Over 85% strongly recommended the program to peers, indicating high acceptability.
- Consistent reduction in anxiety and depressive symptoms observed from week 1 to week 12, alongside high engagement with mentors.
Conclusions:
- Appa Health is a promising digital intervention for improving youth well-being and reducing anxiety and depressive symptoms.
- The program's innovative approach integrates web-based mentoring with accessible CBT video content.
- Formative research supports a forthcoming large-scale randomized controlled trial funded by the NIH SBIR program.
