Considering Mental Health Apps? APA App Advisor Can Help

As the number of mental health apps available for download continues to rise, psychiatrists are likely to receive questions from patients on the risks and benefits of these products. To help psychiatrists and other mental health professionals when selecting apps, APA has created theAPA App Advisor—a website that guides users through questions to consider when evaluating mental health apps.The APA App Advisor is an outgrowth of a mobile app evaluator put forth by an APA work group in 2017. Last December, APA brought together a diverse expert panel to assess the evaluation tool and consider ways to enhance it. The panel included not just psychiatrists but also psychologists, social workers, nurse practitioners, medical students, and people with lived experience of mental illness.“We wanted to make sure a lot of different voices were heard,” John Torous, M.D., director of the Digital Psychiatry Division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and chair of the expert panel, toldPsychiatric News.The panel recommended the following questions as a good “jumping off” point when considering any mental health app:On which platforms/operating systems does the app work? Does it also work on a desktop computer?Has the app been updated in the last 180 days?Is there a transparent privacy policy that is clear and accessible before use?Does the app collect, use, and/or transmit sensitive data? If yes, does it claim to do so securely?Is there evidence of specific benefit from academi...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: APA App Advisor clinical research data evaluations John Torous mental health apps privacy Source Type: research