Stress Management Apps With Regard to Emotion-Focused Coping and Behavior Change Techniques: A Content Analysis

Bibliographic Details
Title: Stress Management Apps With Regard to Emotion-Focused Coping and Behavior Change Techniques: A Content Analysis
Authors: Christmann, Corinna Anna, Hoffmann, Alexandra, Bleser, Gabriele
Source: JMIR mHealth and uHealth, Vol 5, Iss 2, p e22 (2017)
Publisher Information: JMIR Publications, 2017.
Publication Year: 2017
Collection: LCC:Information technology
LCC:Public aspects of medicine
Subject Terms: Information technology, T58.5-58.64, Public aspects of medicine, RA1-1270
More Details: BackgroundChronic stress has been shown to be associated with disease. This link is not only direct but also indirect through harmful health behavior such as smoking or changing eating habits. The recent mHealth trend offers a new and promising approach to support the adoption and maintenance of appropriate stress management techniques. However, only few studies have dealt with the inclusion of evidence-based content within stress management apps for mobile phones. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate stress management apps on the basis of a new taxonomy of effective emotion-focused stress management techniques and an established taxonomy of behavior change techniques. MethodsTwo trained and independent raters evaluated 62 free apps found in Google Play with regard to 26 behavior change and 15 emotion-focused stress management techniques in October 2015. ResultsThe apps included an average of 4.3 behavior change techniques (SD 4.2) and 2.8 emotion-focused stress management techniques (SD 2.6). The behavior change technique score and stress management technique score were highly correlated (r=.82, P=.01). ConclusionsThe broad variation of different stress management strategies found in this sample of apps goes in line with those found in conventional stress management interventions and self-help literature. Moreover, this study provided a first step toward more detailed and standardized taxonomies, which can be used to investigate evidence-based content in stress management interventions and enable greater comparability between different intervention types.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2291-5222
Relation: http://mhealth.jmir.org/2017/2/e22/; https://doaj.org/toc/2291-5222
DOI: 10.2196/mhealth.6471
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/644866e8a1fb4caaa6e23a829bbe46e7
Accession Number: edsdoj.644866e8a1fb4caaa6e23a829bbe46e7
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:22915222
DOI:10.2196/mhealth.6471
Published in:JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Language:English