IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v10y2021i10p397-d658011.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adolescent Perspectives on How an Adjunctive Mobile App for Social Anxiety Treatment Impacts Treatment Engagement in Telehealth Group Therapy

Author

Listed:
  • Celine Lu

    (Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA)

  • Wendy Chu

    (Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA)

  • Shannon Madden

    (Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA)

  • Bambang Parmanto

    (Department of Health Information Management, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA)

  • Jennifer Susan Silk

    (Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA)

Abstract

Adjunctive mobile mental health apps to supplement mental health treatment have been growing in recent years given their ability to address treatment engagement barriers. However, few studies have explicitly examined how these mobile apps impact treatment engagement, and even fewer have investigated this topic through adolescents’ perspectives. To this end, we conducted semi-structured interviews with five adolescents who used an adjunctive mobile mental health app in combination with telehealth cognitive behavioral group therapy for social anxiety. Using a multidimensional framework of treatment engagement, we elicited their perspectives on how the app impacted their engagement in telehealth group therapy and gathered their suggestions for improving the app. Using a consensual qualitative research approach, we learned that adolescents felt the app increased their comfort with others in therapy and their expectations about the effectiveness of mental health apps. They also indicated that the app prepared them for in-session participation and facilitated out-of-session skills practice. Adolescents had valuable suggestions such as adding app features to facilitate social connectedness between group members and adding appointment reminders in the app. This preliminary study highlights implications for future adjunctive mobile mental health app developers and researchers to increase adolescents’ treatment engagement in mental health services.

Suggested Citation

  • Celine Lu & Wendy Chu & Shannon Madden & Bambang Parmanto & Jennifer Susan Silk, 2021. "Adolescent Perspectives on How an Adjunctive Mobile App for Social Anxiety Treatment Impacts Treatment Engagement in Telehealth Group Therapy," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-13, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:397-:d:658011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/10/397/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/10/397/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julia Rogers & Tracy Gladstone & Benjamin Van Voorhees & Eduardo L. Bunge, 2021. "The Role of Human Support on Engagement in an Online Depression Prevention Program for Youth," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guido A. Entenberg & Malenka Areas & Andrés J. Roussos & Ana Laura Maglio & Jillian Thrall & Milagros Escoredo & Eduardo L. Bunge, 2021. "Using an Artificial Intelligence Based Chatbot to Provide Parent Training: Results from a Feasibility Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-9, November.
    2. Eduardo L. Bunge & Blanca S. Pineda & Naira Topooco & Taylor N. Stephens, 2021. "Editorial Introduction to Technological Approaches for the Treatment of Mental Health in Youth," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-3, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:397-:d:658011. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.