Usability and Quality of the JoyPop App: Prospective Evaluation Study

Area of Science:

• Digital mental health
• Human-computer interaction
• Psychology

Background:

• Canadian postsecondary students face increasing mental health challenges and barriers to care.
• Mobile mental health apps can reduce barriers but suffer from low student engagement.
• Evaluating app usability and quality is crucial for engagement, safety, and utility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the usability and quality of the JoyPop mental health app.
• To determine the predictive importance of usability and quality on future app usage intentions among students.

Main Methods:

• 183 students completed pre-app measures (demographics, personality), used the JoyPop app for one week, and completed post-app measures.
• Assessed app usability (overall, ease of use, interface, satisfaction, usefulness) and quality (objective, subjective, perceived impact).
• Used multiple regression analyses to predict usage intentions based on usability, quality, and user characteristics.

Main Results:

• Students rated JoyPop's overall usability as "very good" (mean 5.63) and objective quality as "excellent" (mean 4.06).
• 73.8% of participants would recommend the app; it had a moderate impact on mental health and coping skills (mean 3.48).
• App usability (β=.56) and quality (β=.52) were the strongest predictors of usage intentions, surpassing other user characteristics.

Conclusions:

• The JoyPop app is an engaging, high-quality mental health tool that supports students.
• Findings offer insights into optimal mobile mental health app design for students.
• Results inform future design adaptations for the JoyPop app to enhance student support.