Previously submitted to: JMIR mHealth and uHealth (no longer under consideration since Sep 27, 2023)
Date Submitted: Mar 22, 2023
Open Peer Review Period: Mar 22, 2023 - May 17, 2023
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Can real-time personalized feedback in mHealth improve app engagement, user experience, and well-being?
ABSTRACT
Background:
Mobile Health (mHealth) may improve early identification, prevention, and treatment of mental health problems. The multiplayer smartphone app Grow It!, lets 12-25 years old adolescents monitor their emotions and provides them with daily challenges based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
Objective:
This preregistered study evaluates whether real-time personalized feedback on an individual’s well-being could enhance app engagement (i.e., compliance in self-monitoring, number of challenges), user experience (e.g., rating), and effectiveness (i.e., changes in well-being).
Methods:
Two independent samples of adolescents played Grow It! for 3 weeks. Sample A (N = 733, age= 18.48 SD=3.47, 81% girls, 97% Dutch) did not receive feedback. Sample B (N = 320, age= 15.88 SD=3.18, 69% girls, 89% Dutch) did receive personalized real-time feedback. 9 semi-structured interviews were conducted among clinicians.
Results:
Adolescents who received personal feedback had higher compliance; they completed more challenges; and rated the design of the app more favorably. Over the course of 3 weeks, adolescents’ affective and cognitive well-being increased significantly but these improvements were unrelated to their engagement and user experience. Semi-structured interviews underscored that healthcare professionals would be motivated to use Grow It! in clinical practice.
Conclusions:
Adolescents’ affective and cognitive well-being may be enhanced by playing a gamified CBT with self-monitoring of emotions. Providing adolescents real-time insights into their emotional well-being may improve user engagement and user experience of mHealth. Clinical Trial: https://osf.io/cm2jb/?view_only=b79cfa0f8af043809da8750bf33e99c1
Citation
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