scholarly journals Acceptability and Usability of Mobile Apps for Smoking Cessation Among Young Adults With Psychotic Disorders and Other Serious Mental Illness

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minda A. Gowarty ◽  
Kelly A. Aschbrenner ◽  
Mary F. Brunette

Background: Young adults with serious mental illness (SMI) are over twice as likely to smoke cigarettes than those in the general population, but little research has evaluated the efficacy of interventions for this group. While smartphone apps are a promising tool to address this need, their usability should be evaluated among young adults with psychotic disorders, whose symptoms and cognitive impairments may be a barrier to app use.Methods: We compared usability and acceptability of National Cancer Institute apps (QuitGuide and quitSTART) between young adult smokers with SMI psychotic disorders and other SMI diagnoses. We evaluated objective app usability at the initial study visit and following 2 weeks of independent use via a video-recorded task-completion protocol. Perceptions of usability and acceptability were assessed with semi-structured interviews. Engagement was assessed with backend app use data.Results: Participants had a mean age of 29 years old (SD = 4). Of the participants without psychotic disorders (n = 10), all were diagnosed with SMI post-traumatic stress disorder (SMI-PTSD). QuitGuide objective task completion rates were high and similar between diagnosis groups, whereas quitSTART task completion was initially lower among users with psychotic disorder compared to users with SMI-PTSD at Visit 1, and improved by Visit 2. Mean app interactions, mean days of use, and median completed notifications were dramatically higher among quitSTART users compared to QuitGuide users. Compared to quitSTART users with SMI-PTSD, quitSTART users with psychotic disorders had similar daily app interactions over the first week of use (mean 3.8 ± 2.4 interactions), and numerically lower mean daily app interactions during the second week (1.9 ± 1.5 vs. 3.4 ± 2.5), whereas completed notifications remained stable among quitSTART users in both diagnosis groups over time. Qualitative comments indicated general acceptability of both apps among both diagnosis groups.Conclusions: Both QuitGuide and quitSTART were usable and appealing among young adult smokers with psychotic disorders and SMI-PTSD, although quitSTART engendered a dramatically greater level of engagement compared to QuitGuide. Initial coaching to support initiation and app notifications to promote prolonged engagement may be important for young adult smokers with psychotic disorders. Replication and efficacy testing for quitSTART is warranted.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minda A Gowarty ◽  
Meghan R Longacre ◽  
Roger Vilardaga ◽  
Nathan J Kung ◽  
Ashley E Gaughan-Maher ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Young adults with serious mental illness (SMI) have higher smoking rates and lower cessation rates than young adults without SMI. Scalable interventions such as smartphone apps with evidence-based content (eg, the National Cancer Institute’s [NCI’s] QuitGuide and quitSTART) could increase access to potentially appealing and effective treatment for this group but have yet to be tested in this population. OBJECTIVE The goal of this user-centered design study is to determine the user experience (including usability and acceptability) of 2 widely available apps developed by the NCI—QuitGuide and quitSTART—among young adult tobacco users with SMI. METHODS We conducted usability and acceptability testing of QuitGuide and quitSTART among participants with SMI aged between 18 and 35 years who were stable in community mental health treatment between 2019 and 2020. Participants were randomly assigned to use QuitGuide or quitSTART on their smartphones. App usability was evaluated at baseline and following a 2-week field test of independent use via a video-recorded task completion protocol. Using a mixed method approach, we triangulated 4 data sources: nonparticipant observation, open-ended interviews, structured interviews (including the System Usability Scale [SUS]), and backend app use data obtained from the NCI. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS Participants were 17 smokers who were not interested in quitting, with a mean age of 29 (SD 4) years; 41% (n=7) presented with psychotic disorders. Participants smoked an average of 15 (SD 7) cigarettes per day. The mean SUS scores for QuitGuide were similar at visits one and two (mean 64, SD 18 and mean 66, SD 18, respectively). The mean SUS scores for quitSTART numerically increased from visit one (mean 55, SD 20) to visit two (mean 64, SD 16). Acceptability scores followed the same pattern. Observed task completion rates were at least 75% (7/9 for QuitGuide, 6/8 for quitSTART) for both apps at both visits for all but 2 tasks. During the 13-day trial period, QuitGuide and quitSTART users interacted with their assigned app on an average of 4.6 (SD 2.8) days versus 10.8 (SD 3.5) days, for a mean total of 5.6 (SD 3.8) interactions versus 41 (SD 26) interactions, and responded to a median of 1 notification (range 0-8) versus 18.5 notifications (range 0-37), respectively. Qualitative comments indicated moderate to high satisfaction overall but also included concerns about the accuracy of the apps’ feedback. CONCLUSIONS Both QuitGuide and quitSTART had acceptable levels of usability and mixed levels of acceptability among young adults with SMI. The higher level of engagement with quitSTART suggests that quitSTART may be a favorable tool for young adult smokers with SMI. However, clinical support or coaching may be needed to overcome initial usability issues.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle R. Munson ◽  
James J. Jaccard ◽  
Lionel D. Scott ◽  
Sarah C. Narendorf ◽  
Kiara L. Moore ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Alexander Thompson ◽  
Daniel Williams ◽  
Oliver Freudenreich ◽  
Andrew Angelino ◽  
Glenn Treisman

The major public health problem that is HIV/AIDS in persons with a serious mental illness is aptly described a “syndemic.” Having HIV/AIDS puts one at much greater risk for developing a serious mental illness. Conversely, having a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, substance use disorder, is associated with many factors that place one at greater risk for contracting and transmitting HIV. And, in both cases of serious mental illness and HIV/AIDS, each disorder creates many new challenges in the management of the other disorder. This chapter addresses these challenges, which center around being able to participate actively and adhere to medication regimens needed to manage both medical and psychiatric conditions. Fortunately, specialized models of care like comprehensive, integrated clinics and nurse care managers are ways to provide effective, satisfying, and cost-effective care to this most vulnerable population.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Maddineshat ◽  
Efat Sadeghian ◽  
Ali Ghaleiha ◽  
Mitra Khalafbeigi ◽  
Fatemeh Cheraghi

Abstract Background: Many factors affect return to work (RTW) in employees and workers (hereinafter referred to as working people) with serious mental illness (SMI). Identifying these factors can prevent long-term sick leave absence and work disability. Aim: The current study was conducted to identify facilitators and barriers RTW in working people with SMI admitted to a psychiatric hospital and clinic affiliated with the Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Iran.Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in 2020 on 27 participants with SMI, families, supervisors, managers, and mental health team members. The participants were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using in-depth and semi-structured interviews. A total of 40 interviews were conducted face-to-face and fallow-up by the telephone. The interviews were based on a conventional content analysis approach.Results: Two main themes emerged, including social support and RTW's challenges. Social support consisted of four main categories: emotional support, information support, instrumental support, and supervisor's flexibility. RTW's challenges consisted of two main categories: personal obstacles and general issues.Conclusion: We found that two facilitator and barrier factors including social support and RTW's challenges affected the RTW process in working people with SMI. Identifying facilitator and barrier factors gives us comprehensive information to use in RTW programs and developing policies RTW in working people with SMI.


Author(s):  
Lauren Mizock ◽  
Erika Carr

Women with Serious Mental Illness: Gender-Sensitive and Recovery-Oriented Care calls attention to a topic and a population that have been overlooked in research and psychotherapy—women with serious mental illnesses (schizophrenia, severe depression, bipolar disorder, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder). The book focuses on the history of mistreatment, marginalization, and oppression women with serious mental illness have encountered, not only from the general public but within the mental health system as well. This book provides an overview of recovery-oriented care for women with serious mental illness—a process of seeking hope, empowerment, and self-determination beyond the effects of mental illness. The authors provide a historical overview of the treatment of women with mental illness, their resilience and recovery experiences, and issues pertaining to relationships, work, class, culture, trauma, and sexuality. This book also offers the new model, the Women’s Empowerment and Recovery-Oriented Care intervention, for working with this population from a gender-sensitive framework. The book is a useful tool for mental health educators and providers and provides case studies, clinical strategies lists, discussion questions, experiential activities, diagrams, and worksheets that can be completed with clients, students, and peers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 631-642
Author(s):  
Andrew Gardner ◽  
Sue Cotton ◽  
Brian O’Donoghue ◽  
Eóin Killackey ◽  
Peter Norton ◽  
...  

Aims: Young adults with serious mental illness (SMI) are thought to be socially excluded. However, psychometric measures of social inclusion have not been employed to examine group differences relative to peers from the general community. The aim of this study was to employ such a measure to determine differences in social inclusion between young adults with SMI and peers from the general community. Methods: A cross-sectional hierarchical logistic regression was conducted to identify which dimensions and individual indicators from the Filia Social Inclusion Measure (F-SIM) discriminated between n = 152 young adults aged 18–25 from the general community ( M = 21.36, SD = 2.16) and n = 159 young adults aged 18–25 with SMI ( M = 21.13, SD = 2.21). Results: Group membership was accounted for by Interpersonal Connections (Nagelkerke R2 = .32), Vocational & Financial Security (Nagelkerke R2 = .32) and Healthy Independent Lifestyle (Nagelkerke R2 = .08) dimensions of the F-SIM. Relative to young adults from the general community, those with SMI were five times less likely to feel they had friends who would call on them in a crisis, odds ratio (OR) = .19 (95%CI = .04, .53), p = .04, almost five times more likely to live with their parents, OR = 4.79 (95%CI = 1.98,11.15), p = .004, almost four times less likely to have worked/studied any time over the past 12 months, OR = .27 (95%CI = .11,.64), p < .001, and three-and-a-half times more likely to report unstable accommodation, OR = 3.58 (95%CI = 1.14, 11.15), p = .03. Conclusion: Young adults with SMI are socially excluded relative to peers from the general community in terms of interpersonal connections, vocational engagement, autonomy/independence and housing stability. In addition to the well-established focus on vocational engagement, interventions to improve social inclusion in this population must promote reciprocity within social relationships and healthy autonomy/independence (including stable housing).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document