MindCraft app: mental health monitoring in young people
Research type
Research Study
Full title
MindCraft app: a pilot and feasibility study of mental health monitoring in adolescents and young adults in secondary care mental health services
IRAS ID
319783
Contact name
Martina Di Simplicio
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 31 days
Research summary
Mental health conditions in young people are a growing public health concern which demand increasing resources and call for solutions to facilitate accessible care at scale. In the UK, over 90% of young people are mobile owners who increasingly use smartphone applications (apps) to self-monitor and improve health, suggesting that digital technology can offer opportunities to improve care. Research has shown that self-monitoring of mental health can promote better self-awareness, more personalised treatment decisions, faster recovery and potentially help prevent relapse.
Young people favour digital monitoring tools if coupled with actions / interventions (Dewa et al., 2019), but to date no general (non disorder-specific) mental health tracking app with in-app personalised recommendations is available in the NHS .
This study will pilot a novel app, called MindCraft, developed by Imperial College London, which aims to capture subjective experiences (mood, energies) and behaviour (activities, sleep) in young people. Following this feasibility pilot, future studies will train the app to identify latent patterns of mood and behaviour to predict outcomes and embed personalised recommendations and interventions in the app.
We will deliver the MindCraft app to young people aged 12-25 who have been referred to adult community mental health services (Mental Health Integrated Network Teams; MINT) and Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CCAMHS) in West London NHS Trust (i.e., Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Hounslow) and encourage clinicians to use the app as part of routine care. We will assess usability and utility and explore how ratings on the app correspond to standardised mental health measures. Results will inform further development of the app functionality and future co-design with young people with lived experiences of mental health conditions and clinicians, in order to trial in-app personalised recommendations of behavioural interventions in future studies.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NW/0110
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jun 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion