Effectiveness of Two Mobile Apps in Promoting Mental Health among University Students

Background: There is evidence of a high prevalence of depression, anxiety, mental health and difficulties in university students. Currently, the many mindfulness meditation and emotion management interventions delivered via a mobile app may be an appealing, effective way to reduce stress in college...

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Autores: Martínez Lorca, Alberto, Martínez Lorca, Manuela, Criado Álvarez, Juan José
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Repositorio:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
OAI Identifier:oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/45201
Acceso en línea:https://www.clinmedjournals.org/articles/ijpp/international-journal-of-psychology-and-psychoanalysis-ijpp-11-074.php?jid=ijpp
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/45201
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Effectiveness
First year
Mental health
Mobile phone
University students
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spelling Effectiveness of Two Mobile Apps in Promoting Mental Health among University StudentsMartínez Lorca, AlbertoMartínez Lorca, ManuelaCriado Álvarez, Juan JoséEffectivenessFirst yearMental healthMobile phoneUniversity studentsBackground: There is evidence of a high prevalence of depression, anxiety, mental health and difficulties in university students. Currently, the many mindfulness meditation and emotion management interventions delivered via a mobile app may be an appealing, effective way to reduce stress in college students.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of two mobile app interventions compared to a wait-list control in promoting health, resilience, mindfulness, emotion management and coping skills in first year university students enrolled in Health Sciences degree courses.Methods: The study design was a sample of 154 first-year undergraduates with a mean age of 19.82 years were assigned to one of three conditions: 1) unguided Internet-based mindfulness intervention app "Calm"; 2) unguided emotion management app "E-Trainer"; and 3) wait-list control condition. Participants were evaluated at pre-treatment and 7 months follow-up (post-treatment). For this purpose, we used the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15), the short form of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form (FFMQ-SF), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and the Evaluation of the Need for Psychological Assistance Questionnaire (NPAQ).Results: There were no significant differences in any outcomes between the interventions and control groups. We identified one significant difference as regards whether they needed psychological assistance from the university at post-test. However, only 53 students completed the study (17 "Calm", 26 "E-Trainer", 10 controls). We analysed the 101 students that dropped out and did not continue to the post-test, comparing them with those that remained. We found that those continuing felt concern about their somatic symptoms, their study methods, and their academic performance. Additionally, the results of paired-sample pre-test-post-test measures showed these students presented higher levels of distress, anxiety, academic and interpersonal dysfunctions.Conclusions: Although the mobile app interventions were not effective, our study was able to determine the status of the students that completed the study, with post-test being when they presented most difficulties. Thus, in the case of these students, early strategies are needed for the prevention and treatment of psychological effects on the mental health of university students.CLINMED202520252025info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttps://www.clinmedjournals.org/articles/ijpp/international-journal-of-psychology-and-psychoanalysis-ijpp-11-074.php?jid=ijpphttps://hdl.handle.net/10578/45201reponame:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLMinstname:Universidad de Castilla-La ManchaInglésinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/452012026-05-27T07:36:41Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Effectiveness of Two Mobile Apps in Promoting Mental Health among University Students
title Effectiveness of Two Mobile Apps in Promoting Mental Health among University Students
spellingShingle Effectiveness of Two Mobile Apps in Promoting Mental Health among University Students
Martínez Lorca, Alberto
Effectiveness
First year
Mental health
Mobile phone
University students
title_short Effectiveness of Two Mobile Apps in Promoting Mental Health among University Students
title_full Effectiveness of Two Mobile Apps in Promoting Mental Health among University Students
title_fullStr Effectiveness of Two Mobile Apps in Promoting Mental Health among University Students
title_full_unstemmed Effectiveness of Two Mobile Apps in Promoting Mental Health among University Students
title_sort Effectiveness of Two Mobile Apps in Promoting Mental Health among University Students
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Martínez Lorca, Alberto
Martínez Lorca, Manuela
Criado Álvarez, Juan José
author Martínez Lorca, Alberto
author_facet Martínez Lorca, Alberto
Martínez Lorca, Manuela
Criado Álvarez, Juan José
author_role author
author2 Martínez Lorca, Manuela
Criado Álvarez, Juan José
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Effectiveness
First year
Mental health
Mobile phone
University students
topic Effectiveness
First year
Mental health
Mobile phone
University students
description Background: There is evidence of a high prevalence of depression, anxiety, mental health and difficulties in university students. Currently, the many mindfulness meditation and emotion management interventions delivered via a mobile app may be an appealing, effective way to reduce stress in college students.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of two mobile app interventions compared to a wait-list control in promoting health, resilience, mindfulness, emotion management and coping skills in first year university students enrolled in Health Sciences degree courses.Methods: The study design was a sample of 154 first-year undergraduates with a mean age of 19.82 years were assigned to one of three conditions: 1) unguided Internet-based mindfulness intervention app "Calm"; 2) unguided emotion management app "E-Trainer"; and 3) wait-list control condition. Participants were evaluated at pre-treatment and 7 months follow-up (post-treatment). For this purpose, we used the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15), the short form of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form (FFMQ-SF), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and the Evaluation of the Need for Psychological Assistance Questionnaire (NPAQ).Results: There were no significant differences in any outcomes between the interventions and control groups. We identified one significant difference as regards whether they needed psychological assistance from the university at post-test. However, only 53 students completed the study (17 "Calm", 26 "E-Trainer", 10 controls). We analysed the 101 students that dropped out and did not continue to the post-test, comparing them with those that remained. We found that those continuing felt concern about their somatic symptoms, their study methods, and their academic performance. Additionally, the results of paired-sample pre-test-post-test measures showed these students presented higher levels of distress, anxiety, academic and interpersonal dysfunctions.Conclusions: Although the mobile app interventions were not effective, our study was able to determine the status of the students that completed the study, with post-test being when they presented most difficulties. Thus, in the case of these students, early strategies are needed for the prevention and treatment of psychological effects on the mental health of university students.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://www.clinmedjournals.org/articles/ijpp/international-journal-of-psychology-and-psychoanalysis-ijpp-11-074.php?jid=ijpp
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/45201
url https://www.clinmedjournals.org/articles/ijpp/international-journal-of-psychology-and-psychoanalysis-ijpp-11-074.php?jid=ijpp
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/45201
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv CLINMED
publisher.none.fl_str_mv CLINMED
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
instname:Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
instname_str Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
reponame_str RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
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