Van Assche et al. (2024) – A Belgian platform for well-being and mental health apps: user attitudes and experiences
Flanders has developed a regional platform to help people find quality-assured mental health and well-being apps. This study explored how end users actually engage with such a platform – what they appreciate, what confuses them, and where they see limits. Useful for policy makers and app developers thinking about how to present and position digital mental health tools for the general public.
Abstract
A plethora of well-being and mental health apps and websites are available online. However, keeping up with this ever-changing field and assessing the quality of applications proves challenging. The platform onlinehulp-apps.be was created to bundle relevant, screened apps for inhabitants of Flanders (Belgium). In this user study, novice users (i.e., applied psychology bachelor students with little to no prior experience with the platform) were asked to solve hypothetical cases where a professional uses onlinehulp-apps.be to find suitable apps. They then reported on their experience and evaluation of the platform. Their attitudes towards the platform were assessed in a pre-post design to investigate any changes in attitudes before and after using the platform to complete the cases. Results showed an overall positive attitude towards the platform, with minor suggestions primarily relating to adding more themes in which apps are classified.
Keywords: mental health apps, well-being, Belgium, platform, user attitudes, digital mental health
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Reference
Van Assche, E., Buelens, F., Mees, A., Verplancke, J., Beelen, S., & Van Daele, T. (2024). A Belgian platform for well-being and mental health apps: Exploring end users’ attitudes, interaction and perceived strengths and limits. Procedia Computer Science, 248, 46–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2024.10.362