Internet-connected devices ownership, use and interests in bipolar disorder: from desktop to mobile mental health

Figures & data

Figure 1. Mobile mental health: key factor on the route towards personalized psychiatry. The process and potential by which smartphones could become a game-changing factor on the route towards personalized psychiatry when combined with other types of data: collecting continuous usage patterns from smartphones might allow us to identify digital phenotypes which when merged with genetics, biomarkers, clinical correlates and other data sources could lead to better characterization of specific subgroups of people who might benefit from specific treatments.

Table 1. Sociodemographic and illness variables.

	N	Mean	SD
Age	274	46.3	11.4
	N	Median	IQR
Years since formal diagnosis	272	9	13
	N	Valid percentage
Gender
Female	198	70
Male	83	29.3
Ethnicity
Asian or Asian British	6	2.1
Black or Black British	4	1.4
Mixed	7	2.4
White	262	91.6
Other	7	2.4
Income
Below £10,000	51	18.1
£10,001–£20,000	72	25.6
£20,001–£30,000	45	16
£30,001–£40,000	39	13.9
Above £40,001	74	26.3
Education
No qualification	9	3.1
Secondary education	26	9.1
Post-secondary education	53	18.5
Vocational qualification	36	12.6
Undergraduate degree	100	35
Post-graduate degree	61	21.3
Current disability	240	84.2
Disability nature
A learning difficulty	4	1.4
A long-standing psychological or mental health condition	176	61.5
Other (including any long-standing illness)	4	1.4
More than one	66	23.1
Disabling disability	218	77
Current specific pharmacological treatment for BD	267	93.7
Current specific psychological treatment for BD	78	27.4

BD: bipolar disorder; IQR: interquartile range; SD: standard deviation.

Table 2. Ownership, uses and interest in new Internet-based technologies.

	N	Valid percentage
Ownership
Desktop computers	83	29
Laptop computers	194	67.8
Tablets	194	67.8
Mobile phones	278	97.2
Feature phone	20	7.2
Smartphone	258	92.8
Android	144	50.3
iOS	114	39.9
Wearables (e.g. smartwatches, smartbands, etc.)	114	41
Uses
Smartphone
Voice calls	170	59.4
Video calls	35	12.2
Text messages	210	73.4
E-mails	204	71.3
Social networks	154	53.8
Video games	56	19.6
Music	107	37.4
Photography	166	58.0
News	100	35.0
Books	36	12.6
Web browsing	153	53.5
Shopping	85	29.7
Fitness tracking	47	16.4
Watch videos	43	15.0
Banking	104	36.4
Navigation	86	30.1
Other	21	7.3
Mental health	94	34.9
Wearable
Fitness tracking	111	50.5
Sleep tracking	84	39.3
Interests
Videoconference assessments/treatments	182	65.0
Chatbots	128	45.7
Virtual reality assessments/treatments	147	52.5

Figure 2. Percentages of the most frequent smartphone uses reported by survey respondents.