Background and objective

Anxiety is a common emotion that people often feel in certain situations. But when the feeling of anxiety is persistent and interferes with a person's day to day life then this may likely be an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are a common issue worldwide and can fall under general anxiety, panic attacks, and social anxiety among others. They can be disabling and can impact all aspects of an individual's life, including work, education, and personal relationships. It is important that people with anxiety receive appropriate care, which in some cases may prove difficult due to mental health care delivery barriers such as cost, stigma, or distance from mental health services. A potential solution to this could be mobile mental health applications. These can serve as effective and promising tools to assist in the management of anxiety and to overcome some of the aforementioned barriers. The objective of this study is to provide an analysis of treatment and management-related functionality and characteristics of high-rated mobile applications (apps) for anxiety, which are available for Android and iOS systems.

Method

A broad search was performed in the Google Play Store and App Store following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocol to identify existing apps for anxiety. A set of free and highly rated apps for anxiety were identified and the selected apps were then installed and analyzed according to a predefined data extraction strategy.

Results

A total of 167 anxiety apps were selected (123 Android apps and 44 iOS apps). Besides anxiety, the selected apps addressed several health issues including stress, depression, sleep issues, and eating disorders. The apps adopted various treatment and management approaches such as meditation, breathing exercises, mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy. Results also showed that 51% of the selected apps used various gamification features to motivate users to keep using them, 32% provided social features including chat, communication with others and links to sources of help; 46% offered offline availability; and only 19% reported involvement of mental health professionals in their design.

Conclusions

Anxiety apps incorporate various mental health care management methods and approaches. Apps can serve as promising tools to assist large numbers of people suffering from general anxiety or from anxiety disorders, anytime, anywhere, and particularly in the current COVID-19 pandemic.

中文翻译：

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对高度评价的焦虑应用程序的自我管理和治疗相关功能和特征的分析。

背景和目标

Anxiety is a common emotion that people often feel in certain situations. But when the feeling of anxiety is persistent and interferes with a person's day to day life then this may likely be an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are a common issue worldwide and can fall under general anxiety, panic attacks, and social anxiety among others. They can be disabling and can impact all aspects of an individual's life, including work, education, and personal relationships. It is important that people with anxiety receive appropriate care, which in some cases may prove difficult due to mental health care delivery barriers such as cost, stigma, or distance from mental health services. A potential solution to this could be mobile mental health applications. These can serve as effective and promising tools to assist in the management of anxiety and to overcome some of the aforementioned barriers. The objective of this study is to provide an analysis of treatment and management-related functionality and characteristics of high-rated mobile applications (apps) for anxiety, which are available for Android and iOS systems.

Method

A broad search was performed in the Google Play Store and App Store following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocol to identify existing apps for anxiety. A set of free and highly rated apps for anxiety were identified and the selected apps were then installed and analyzed according to a predefined data extraction strategy.

Results

总共选择了 167 个焦虑应用程序（123 个 Android 应用程序和 44 个 iOS 应用程序）。除了焦虑之外，选定的应用程序还解决了几个健康问题，包括压力、抑郁、睡眠问题和饮食失调。这些应用程序采用了多种治疗和管理方法，例如冥想、呼吸练习、正念和认知行为疗法。结果还显示，51% 的选定应用程序使用各种游戏化功能来激励用户继续使用它们，32% 的应用程序提供社交功能，包括聊天、与他人交流以及指向帮助资源的链接；46% 提供离线服务；只有 19% 的人报告说精神卫生专业人员参与了他们的设计。

结论

焦虑应用程序包含各种心理健康管理方法和途径。应用程序可以作为有前途的工具，随时随地帮助大量患有普遍性焦虑症或焦虑症的人，尤其是在当前的 COVID-19 大流行期间。