Development and evaluation of Healthy Mind App to screen for depression, provide digital therapies to reduce depression symptoms: Real-World Data Evaluation from a Public Service in Seoul City (Preprint)

Abstract

Numerous apps for the wellness of users are being developed however, there are not many apps that have been developed and evaluated scientifically upon the most recent evidence available.

This article aims to explain the scientific development of an app for screening depression and reducing depression symptoms. The secondary aim is to provide insights from a pilot test, where the app was promoted and used by the citizens of Seoul, Korea.

The Seoul City app was promoted by Seoul City and recommended by therapists to 500 members of the public as complimentary treatment. We show the details of the 6 phases; registration, emotion recording, depression screening, results of screening, recommended activities, and attendance check.

The depression score, CESD-10-D score is significantly improved for all the participants, however, the PHQ-9 score only shows a significant difference in score for the mild group. Among the different activities the Digital Mandela was most popular followed by the exercise game then the cognitive screening game, Finding Blue. Interestingly the effectiveness of the app seemed to decrease as the frequency of the app increased.

This data from this study shows that an app can be cost effective and used by a large amount of users, however, the effectiveness seems to reduce as the use increases. In spite of the vast multitude of research of wellness apps, there is however a substantial amount of work required to ensure that apps are engaging to the user to be effective even after extensive use. Our data provides insights on the strengths and weakness of the app and provides suggestions for future development.

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