Designing smartphone mental health applications for emergency service workers

Abstract

Background Emergency service workers are often exposed to trauma and have increased risk of a range of mental health (MH) conditions. Smartphone applications have the potential to provide this group with effective psychological interventions; however, little is known about the acceptability and preferences regarding such initiatives. Aims To describe the preferences and opinions of emergency service workers regarding the use of smartphone MH applications and to examine the impact of age on these preferences. Methods Participants were recruited from four metropolitan Fire and Rescue NSW stations and responded to questionnaire items covering three key domains: current smartphone use, potential future use and preferences for design and content as well as therapeutic techniques. Results Overall, approximately half the sample (n = 106) claimed they would be interested in trying a tailored emergency-worker MH smartphone application. There were few differences between age groups on preferences. The majority of respondents claimed they would use an app for mental well-being daily and preferred terms such as ‘well-being’ and ‘mental fitness’ for referring to MH. Confidentiality, along with a focus on stress, sleep, exercise and resiliency were all considered key features. Behavioural therapeutic techniques were regarded most favourably, compared with other therapies. Conclusions Emergency workers were interested in utilizing smartphone applications focused on MH, but expressed clear preferences regarding language used in promotion, features required and therapeutic techniques preferred.