Mental health mobile application usage in young adults with a family history of mental illness

Abstract

Objective

Young adults with a family history of mental illness are at increased risk of developing mental disorders. The current study aimed to assess how young at‐risk individuals use mental health applications (MHAs) in comparison with those not at‐risk, and whether these groups differed in the types of MHAs used, how helpful they found MHAs, and their reasons for and against using MHAs.

Method

An online survey was conducted where young adults aged 18–30-years (N = 525; 389 female) were asked about their immediate family history of any diagnosis of any mental illness and their use of MHAs. The responses were analysed using chi‐square tests of independence.

Results

Young adults with a family history of mental illness (N = 271) were more likely to report using MHAs and more likely to use MHAs for mental wellbeing than those who did not have a family history of mental illness. They were also more likely not to use MHAs if they were not useful or did not want to use them. Individuals who identified as “other” genders were also more likely to use MHAs while males were less likely to use MHAs.

Conclusions

MHAs may be a viable avenue to engage at‐risk individuals in targeted treatment and suggests the need to develop apps tailored to this population. It is recommended that future research explores the efficacy of MHAs in reducing psychiatric symptomatology in the at‐risk population, and how apps may be used by clinicians most effectively as part of treatment.

Key words:

• at‐risk
• family history
• mental health
• mobile app
• mobile technology