A New Mental Health Mobile App for Well-Being and Stress Reduction in Working Women: Randomized Controlled Trial

Although the availability and use of mobile mental health apps has grown exponentially in recent years, little data are available regarding their efficacy. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an app developed to promote stress management and well-being among working women compared with...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of medical Internet research Vol. 21; no. 11; p. e14269
Main Authors:	Coelhoso, Cássia Canha, Tobo, Patricia Renovato, Lacerda, Shirley Silva, Lima, Alex Heitor, Barrichello, Carla Regina Camara, Amaro, Jr, Edson, Kozasa, Elisa Harumi
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Canada Gunther Eysenbach MD MPH, Associate Professor 07-11-2019 JMIR Publications
Subjects:	Activities of daily living Cellular telephones Clinical trials Efficacy Female employees Internet Intervention Mailing lists Meditation Mental disorders Mental health Mental health care Mindfulness Noncompliance Occupational stress Original Paper Psychology Smartphones Stress Stress management Well being Women Working women Brazil women’s health psychology meditation mental health mind-body therapies mobile applications stress, psychological health promotion behavioral medicine behavioral symptoms
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Summary:	Although the availability and use of mobile mental health apps has grown exponentially in recent years, little data are available regarding their efficacy. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an app developed to promote stress management and well-being among working women compared with a control app. Female employees at a private hospital were invited to participate in the study via mailing lists and intranet ads. A total of 653 individuals self-enrolled through the website. Eligible participants were randomized between control (n=240) and intervention (n=250) groups. The well-being mobile app provides an 8-week program with 4 classes per week (including a brief theoretical portion and a 15-min guided practice). The active control app also provided 4 assessments per week that encouraged participants to self-observe how they were feeling for 20 min. We also used the app to conduct Web-based questionnaires (10-item Perceived Stress Scale and 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index) and ask specific questions to assess subjective levels of stress and well-being at baseline (t ), midintervention (t =4 weeks after t ) and postintervention (t =8 weeks after t ). Both apps were fully automated without any human involvement. Outcomes from the control and intervention conditions at the 3 time points were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance. Among the randomized participants (n=490), 185 participants were excluded at the 4-week follow-up and another 79 at the 8-week follow-up because of noncompliance with the experimental protocol. Participants who did not complete t and t assessments were equally distributed between groups (t : control group=34.6% [83/240] and intervention group=40.8% [102/250]; P=.16; t : control group=29.9% [47/157] and intervention group=21.6% [32/148]; P=.10). Both groups showed a significant increase in general well-being as a function of time (F =5.27; P=.006), but only the intervention group presented a significant increase in work-related well-being (F =8.92; P<.001), as well as a significant reduction in work-related and overall stress (F =5.50; P=.004 and F =8.59; P<.001, respectively). The well-being mobile app was effective in reducing employee stress and improving well-being. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02637414; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02637414.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-News-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23
ISSN:	1438-8871 1439-4456 1438-8871
DOI:	10.2196/14269