Bethany Cliffe and Paul Stallard 2022. Preprint: The Implementation and Effectiveness of a Smartphone app for University Students who Self-harm. JMIR Publications. https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.42550
| Title | Preprint: The Implementation and Effectiveness of a Smartphone app for University Students who Self-harm |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bethany Cliffe and Paul Stallard |
| Description | Background: Self-harm and other mental health difficulties are very common amongst university students, but they face numerous barriers in accessing professional support. Support offered via a smartphone app may help to overcome some of the barriers they face while providing support that is acceptable and helpful. Objective: Evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of a self-harm prevention app BlueIce in helping students manage their self-harm, mental wellbeing and abilities to cope. Methods: This was a pre-post hybrid implementation and effectiveness study, where 27 participants completed baseline and follow up questionnaires assessing anxiety, depression, self-harm, and coping self-efficacy/styles. These were completed before downloading BlueIce and again 6 weeks later. After app use, they also completed a brief questionnaire evaluating BlueIce. Results: Scores of anxiety and depression significantly decreased, as did self-harm urges. Coping self-efficacy and the reappraisal coping style significantly increased. Three quarters of participants (78%) used the app and they used it on average 30 times each during the 6 week study period Feedback from participants showed that BlueIce helped provide a distraction in difficult times and helped them to manage their emotions in a more adaptive way. A quarter did not use the app with participants reporting that they did not have the energy or motivation to use it. Participants thought that BlueIce was ‘maybe’ helpful for them and for others. Conclusions: Following app use, participants’ wellbeing had significantly improved suggesting that BlueIce may be effective in helping university students to manage their self-harm urges and wider mental health. More research is needed to generalise these findings to different student populations, but these findings nonetheless indicate that BlueIce could be an effective resource for students who are struggling. |
| Year | 2022 |
| Output media | JMIR Preprint |
| Publisher | JMIR Publications |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 08 Sep 2022 |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.42550 |
| Web address (URL) | https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.42550 |