TY - JOUR AU - Rickard, Nikki AU - Arjmand, Hussain-Abdulah AU - Bakker, David AU - Seabrook, Elizabeth PY - 2016 DA - 2016/11/23 TI - Development of a Mobile Phone App to Support Self-Monitoring of Emotional Well-Being: A Mental Health Digital Innovation JO - JMIR Ment Health SP - e49 VL - 3 IS - 4 KW - eHealth KW - emotions KW - mental health KW - mobile phone KW - feedback AB - Background: Emotional well-being is a primary component of mental health and well-being. Monitoring changes in emotional state daily over extended periods is, however, difficult using traditional methodologies. Providing mental health support is also challenging when approximately only 1 in 2 people with mental health issues seek professional help. Mobile phone technology offers a sustainable means of enhancing self-management of emotional well-being. Objective: This paper aims to describe the development of a mobile phone tool designed to monitor emotional changes in a natural everyday context and in real time. Methods: This evidence-informed mobile phone app monitors emotional mental health and well-being, and it provides links to mental health organization websites and resources. The app obtains data via self-report psychological questionnaires, experience sampling methodology (ESM), and automated behavioral data collection. Results: Feedback from 11 individuals (age range 16-52 years; 4 males, 7 females), who tested the app over 30 days, confirmed via survey and focus group methods that the app was functional and usable. Conclusions: Recommendations for future researchers and developers of mental health apps to be used for research are also presented. The methodology described in this paper offers a powerful tool for a range of potential mental health research studies and provides a valuable standard against which development of future mental health apps should be considered. SN - 2368-7959 UR - http://mental.jmir.org/2016/4/e49/ UR - https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.6202 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27881358 DO - 10.2196/mental.6202 ID - info:doi/10.2196/mental.6202 ER -