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Mental Health Apps: What to Tell Patients

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Please take some time to read this essay, Mental health apps: What to tell patients.

In this paper, there are a couple topics are discuessed. – For most apps, evidence of efficacy is limited – Why online reviews are of limited use – A model for evaluating apps – What strategy should be used?

Based on this research, more and more patient is using health-related smartphone apps. There are now more than 10000 mental health apps on the market. The need of requirement for large-scale assessment on these health apps seems to increase. Apps mislead patients with the wrong treatments can cause dangerous results. The issues of evaluation of mental apps seem to be more urgent than before.

You can see an evaluation model presented by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in the paper. Through this model, one could use the toolset to evaluate an app’s credibility. Please take a close look at the App Evaluation Model Chart. The essay also explains the meaning of each level.

There are also other organizations that provide information on validation on apps, such as PsyberGuide, and Anxiety, and Depression Association of America. You could check their website on the links.

  • Does your country has developed mental health apps already?
  • How do you think the government should set regulations on these apps?

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