Australia warns against mental health applications
Singapour - Published Tuesday, May 16, 2017 - 14:00 - #3612 Australians who use mindfulness applications dedicated to preserve or improve their mental health are advised to exercise caution.Experts worry about the quality of certain devices and have called in early May 2017 for greater regulation of the digital health market, booming within the country.
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Mental health applications: their effectiveness is questioned by Dr. Grundy
One of these critical experts is Dr. Quinn GrundyQuinn Grundy, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney's Faculty of Pharmacy based at the Charles Perkins Centre. She said to the Australian Associated Press that mobile apps have the potential to provide tailored, accessible and cost-effective mental health services.
However, they can also be potentially harmful, she explained, pointing out that it is hard for consumers to sort through the tens of thousands of applications available on the market.
An analysis of "the best of the best" applications of that kind, funded by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), showed that there was little evidence of their effectiveness in improving the mental health of their users.
Even the best applications would not be completely reliable
"In the end we didn't feel comfortable in endorsing any of these apps because even the ones that were from reputable organisations didn't provide the privacy assurances one would hope for," Dr. Grundy said to the Australian Associated Press. Or if they had a great privacy policy it was unclear that the developer had any mental health expertise or that it was based on sound evidence. "
By studying these tools, Dr. Grundy's team revealed various disruptive aspects:
- Many services communicate about how easy and quickly they could solve user problems. "So we wondered if a consumer didn't get better would they blame themselves?";
- A number of applications suggest that daily problems, such as sleeping and stress, are a sign of a mental health problem. However, a consultation with a health professional and a deeper analysis are necessary to reach this kind of conclusion.
Some services may worsen the mental health of users
For Dr. Gundy, some applications could aggravate the mental health of the user in the worst case.
Jazmin, PHD student, began using a mindfulness application to try to better control her stress. She explains that it was a particularly busy period for her with study as well as trying to establish a start-up. "I felt quite stressed."
At first, she finds the meditations proposed by the tool quite useful, particularly at night. "But the requirement for daily reporting started to get annoying, and I realized that when I rated myself as feeling down, that actually compounded those feelings, I ended up feeling worse. So I gave it up."
Towards stricter market regulation?
Dr. Quinn Grundy regrets that governments don't do more to regulate the market. Her point of view is shared by Professor Lisa Bero, an Australian pharmacologist and researcher in evidence-based health care.
Dr. Grundy presented her analysis in May 2017 at the Bias and Research Integrity Node Symposium hosted by the University's Charles Perkins Centre. It was her opportunity to emphasize the importance of implementing specific regulations on the commercialization of applications dedicated to mental health in order to ensure that consumers receive quality, evidence-based support.
Quinn Grundy
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| Faculté de pharmacie de l'Université de Sydney, Centre Charles Perkins Chercheur postdoctoral, Australie |
