TITLE:
Interests and Preferences of Adolescent Students in Greece for Content, Design and Functionality Features of an Innovative Mental Health Application for Anxiety and Depression Symptoms
AUTHORS:
Angeliki-Viktoria K. Raftopoulou, Ioannis X. Dritsas
KEYWORDS:
Adolescence, Mental Health, Anxiety, Depression, Application, Innovation, CALMA
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.14 No.13,
December
27,
2023
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to investigate the
interests and preferences of adolescent students for a mental health
application for anxiety and depression, given the lack of previous studies.
Combining the data of modern international literature and empirical research on
the most common mental health problems in adolescence,
anxiety and depression, and on the technological interventions in the
field of mental health, the study focuses on applications. The findings
presented high rates of anxiety and depression in adolescents, especially among girls, and high rates of
correlation for these two mental health problems. In addition,
adolescents reported some interest for the use of an application for anxiety
and depression, which almost doubled with the presupposition of a mental health
professional recommendation for this application. High preference was reported
for features related to access, reliability, function/content, security, and
personalization of the application. Lower preference was reported for features
related to the user’s social interaction with others (mental health
professionals, peers) and for issues regarding the option of concealing the
application on the smartphone. A deeper look into these findings revealed
differences in the rates of anxiety and depression in relation to the level of
interest and preference of the adolescents for some features of the application. Finally, on the basis of the above
findings, the design of a mental health application for adolescents with
anxiety and depression symptoms, “CALMA”, is recommended.