Perspectives of Filipino workers on the usage of a personal mental health dashboard: A qualitative analysis of user reviews

Abstract

Depression has remained one of the top causes of disability in the Philippines. From 2000 to 2012, WHO reported over 2, 000 cases of suicide wherein majority who died were aged 15 to 29 years. There is also a possibility that these statistics are under-reported because depression and other mental illnesses are harder to detect. Even more so, individuals suffering from mental illnesses tend to deny or hide the illness due to culture and perceived stigma on mental illnesses. Multiple studies have suggested that education is an effective means to reduce such stigma. Therefore, a web application has been developed to verify if the use of such tools increases mental health literacy, awareness, and help-seeking tendencies. The application measured the Filipino worker's mental health (in terms of depression, motivation, empathy, and self-efficacy) and provided additional information to increase the user's literacy on depression, motivation, empathy, and self-efficacy. User review questionnaires were sent to the application users. As of current writing, majority of user reviews indicate content and usability satisfaction (59%, 22 user reviews). Positive user review data suggests that there is a potential uptake of mental health applications. フィリピンにおけるディプレッションは大きな問題であり、2000年から2012年にかけて2000人が自殺し た。多くは15歳から29歳である。これらの数字は過小評価の可能性もある。多くの研究では教育が効 果的な手段であるとされている。そのためディプレッションを防ぐためにフィリピンの労働者のメンタル ヘルス対応力や意識、援助を促すアプリを開発した。このアプリは、ユーザーのディプレッション、モ チベーション、共感、自己肯定感について理解するための情報を提供する。これらを活用してもらっ たところ、59％が満足した。これら肯定的な反応はメンタルヘルスの潜在的な可能性を示唆してい る。