Perceptions of mhealth interventions for common mental disorders among students

mHealth (Mobile Health) services refer to the use of mobile phones and other technology to increase access to preventive and mental health provision. However, there is currently limited evidence on the perceptions, needs, and barriers related to these mhHealth interventions for mobile health in the Southeast Asian context.

This study – conducted by researchers Dr Alicia Salamanca-Sanabria, Aishah Alattas, Prof. Dr Tobias Kowatsch and Asst. Prof. Dr Lorainne Tudor Car from FHT – aimed to explore the perception of university students and mental health supporters in Singapore about mental health services, campaigns, and mHealth interventions, with a focus on conversational agent interventions for the prevention of anxiety and depression.

The team engaged six web-based focus group discussions with 30 university students and one-to-one web-based interviews with 11 mental health supporters, which included faculty members, counsellors, psychologists, a clinical psychologist, and a psychiatrist. The qualitative analysis followed a reflexive thematic analysis framework.

The study identified six main themes: a healthy lifestyle as students, access to mental health services, the role of mental health promotion campaigns, preferred mHealth engagement features, factors that influence the adoption of mHealth interventions, and cultural relevance of mHealth interventions. The interpretation of the findings shows that students were reluctant to use mental health services because of the fear of stigma and a possible lack of confidentiality.

Study participants viewed mHealth interventions for mental health as part of a blended intervention. They also felt that future mental health mHealth interventions should be more personalised and capable of managing adverse events such as suicidal ideation. These detailed findings will provide mHealth, mental health practitioners, health care providers and student health administrators context and recommendations to further support mHealth interventions.