Integrating Technology Into Mental Health Care Delivery

TLDR: In this paper, relevant considerations on the integration of smartphones' mobile apps in the clinical field are presented and described, reviewing their potentials for psychology, as well as for other behavioral sciences.

Abstract: Technological developments have revolutionized the concept of health and health services delivery. The application of wireless or mobile technologies supporting or achieving health objectives, mHealth, is receiving a good deal of consideration from researchers worldwide. One specific kind of mHealth which is being developed and tested for psychological use is smartphone applications. In the present chapter, relevant considerations on the integration of smartphones' mobile apps in the clinical field will be presented and described, reviewing their potentials for psychology, as well as for other behavioral sciences. Smartphone features that can be used by professionals in their research activities and information collectible or monitorable with mHealth apps will be addressed. Considerations and evidence related to their efficacy and effectiveness will then be introduced, with particular attention to best practices or barriers regarding mHealth apps adoption in research or clinical settings. It is no longer the time to focus on whether, but to what extent, mHealth apps could be fully integrated into health services in the near future.