Exploring the demand, practicality, and acceptability of a mental health application intervention for students at a South African university

IF 16.4 1区化学 Q1 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Accounts of Chemical Research Pub Date : 2024-05-02 DOI:10.1177/00812463241249100

Tondani Mudau, Vinitha Jithoo, Janan Dietrich

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) interventions for mental health and well-being have increased exponentially in recent years. In this digital era, mHealth interventions are proving to be a useful tool in the promotion of mental health for university students. This mixed-methods study explored the feasibility, practicality, and acceptability of a mental health application (app) designed to address mental health challenges among university students. Overall, a total of 1100 participants completed an online survey, and data were analysed using statistical analytics software. Most of the participants were female (72.73%) within the 18–20 age group (64.64%) and in their first year of study (46.18%). The results show that at least 98.7% of the participants owned a smartphone, 80.8% had access to mobile data, 66.9% used Android software, 20.09% had historically been diagnosed with a mental health challenge, and 26.6% had used an online health app. Sixty-two participants were enrolled across 16 focus group discussions. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis, which revealed four facilitators of app acceptability (exposure to mental health apps, convenience, accessibility, and confidentiality) and three barriers to app acceptability (preference for face-to-face therapy, overreliance on app, and fear of misdiagnosis). The findings suggest that an app that is convenient, accessible, confidential, and nonpathologising can be a feasible and acceptable intervention to address mental health challenges.

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探索南非一所大学学生心理健康应用干预措施的需求、实用性和可接受性

近年来，针对心理健康和幸福的移动保健（mHealth）干预措施急剧增加。在这个数字化时代，移动保健干预措施被证明是促进大学生心理健康的有用工具。这项混合方法研究探讨了心理健康应用程序（app）的可行性、实用性和可接受性，该应用程序旨在应对大学生的心理健康挑战。共有 1100 名参与者完成了在线调查，并使用统计分析软件对数据进行了分析。大部分参与者为女性（72.73%），年龄在 18-20 岁之间（64.64%），就读于一年级（46.18%）。结果显示，至少 98.7% 的参与者拥有智能手机，80.8% 的参与者可以使用移动数据，66.9% 的参与者使用安卓软件，20.09% 的参与者曾被诊断出患有心理健康问题，26.6% 的参与者使用过在线健康应用程序。共有 62 人参加了 16 次焦点小组讨论。我们使用主题分析法对定性数据进行了分析，分析结果显示，有四个因素促进了应用程序的可接受性（接触心理健康应用程序、便利性、可访问性和保密性），三个因素阻碍了应用程序的可接受性（偏好面对面治疗、过度依赖应用程序和担心误诊）。研究结果表明，一款方便、易用、保密且不会让人产生病态心理的应用程序可以成为应对心理健康挑战的可行且可接受的干预措施。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Accounts of Chemical Research 化学-化学综合

CiteScore

31.40

自引率

1.10%

发文量

312

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance. Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.