Mental health and wellness applications are apps which are designed to increase overall well-being, mood, and other aspects of mental health. They can be used both to better one’s overall mental state, and also to receive interventions for different forms of mental health problems (i.e., depression, anxiety). Additionally, given their ease of accessibility, they have the potential to provide treatment on a widespread scale, while also potentially closing the “treatment gap.” However, mental health apps face a big challenge in the form of low user-engagement; individuals do not seem to be using these applications on a consistent and long-term basis. Given their recency, research on this phenomenon is very limited. In particular, the question of college students’ attitudes towards these apps has not yet been explored in the literature. Therefore, in this study we aimed to understand college students’ attitudes towards mental health applications.
Throughout this process, I was able to gain more experience and valuable skills as a researcher. For instance, I gained experience in submitting an IRB protocol and a grant funding proposal. Building off of this, I was able to construct a study design which allowed me to investigate the aforementioned phenomenon. It was extremely gratifying to be able to see this project culminate from a meaningful question which warranted attention to a comprehensive work looking into this gap in the literature. I hope to continue working on this topic in the future, and I am excited to see how this work may add to the existing literature on mental health and wellness applications.
https://youtu.be/qcqYHf_JoOw
Mental health and wellness applications are apps which are designed to increase overall well-being, mood, and other aspects of mental health. They can be used both to better one’s overall mental state, and also to receive interventions for different forms of mental health problems (i.e., depression, anxiety). Additionally, given their ease of accessibility, they have the potential to provide treatment on a widespread scale, while also potentially closing the “treatment gap.” However, mental health apps face a big challenge in the form of low user-engagement; individuals do not seem to be using these applications on a consistent and long-term basis. Given their recency, research on this phenomenon is very limited. In particular, the question of college students’ attitudes towards these apps has not yet been explored in the literature. Therefore, in this study we aimed to understand college students’ attitudes towards mental health applications.
Throughout this process, I was able to gain more experience and valuable skills as a researcher. For instance, I gained experience in submitting an IRB protocol and a grant funding proposal. Building off of this, I was able to construct a study design which allowed me to investigate the aforementioned phenomenon. It was extremely gratifying to be able to see this project culminate from a meaningful question which warranted attention to a comprehensive work looking into this gap in the literature. I hope to continue working on this topic in the future, and I am excited to see how this work may add to the existing literature on mental health and wellness applications.
https://youtu.be/qcqYHf_JoOw