Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Apr 28, 2020
Date Accepted: Jul 24, 2020
Date Submitted to PubMed: Jul 29, 2020
Potential Digital Tools for Psychological Symptoms associated with COVID-19
ABSTRACT
Background:
Abstract Introduction In the four months since the discovery of the index case, there has been several studies highlighting the psychological impact of COVID-19 on frontline healthcare workers and on members of the general public. It is evident from these studies that individuals have elevated levels of anxiety and depression both in the acute phase when first becoming aware of the pandemic and that the psychological distress persists into subsequent weeks. It is becoming apparent that technological tools, such as text-messages, web-based interventions, mobile-based interventions, and conversational agents, could help ameliorate the psychological distress in the workplace and society. From our knowledge, there are limited publications that describes how digital tools have been used to ameliorate psychological symptoms amongst individuals.
Objective:
It is thus the aim of this article to identify existing text, web, mobile and conversational agents that the general public could access to ameliorate the psychological symptoms that they face amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
In order to identify any digital tools that have been published specifically for COVID-19, a search was ran through PubMed and MEDLINE from inception of the databases through to the 23rd of April 2020. The following keywords were used, that of “COVID-19” and “Mental Health” OR “Psychiatry” AND “Technology”. Another search was conducted on PubMed and MEDLINE to identify existing digital tools for depression and anxiety disorders. A web-based search engine (Google.com) was used to identify if the web-based intervention cited could be assessed. A mobile application search application, that of App Annie was used to determine if identified mobile applications could be assessed commercially.
Results:
A total of 6 studies were identified. Of the identified web-based interventions, 5 websites were accessible. Of the identified mobile-based interventions, 7 applications were accessible. Of the identified conversational agents, only 2 were accessible.
Conclusions:
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant psychological distress. Digital tools that are commercially available could potentially be of use for at-risk individuals, or individuals with pre-existing psychiatric symptoms.
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