Development and feasibility of smartphone application for cognitive-behavioural case management of individuals with early psychosis

Background: This article describes the development of the smartphone application for cognitive-behavioural case management of young individuals with early psychosis and examines the acceptance and potential clinical benefits of this application through a pilot survey.

Methods: Gwangju Bukgu-Community Mental Health Center developed and launched a smartphone application (Heal Your Mind [HYM]) for cognitive-behavioural case management and symptom monitoring. The HYM application for clients includes 6 main modules including thought record, symptom record, daily life record, official notices, communication and scales. The key module is the "thought record" for self-directed cognitive-behavioural treatment. When the client writes and sends the self-cognitive-behavioural therapy sheet to the case manager, the latter receives a notification and can provide feedback in real time. We conducted a survey to investigate the acceptance and feasibility of this approach among young clients with early psychosis.

Results: A total of 24 clients with early psychosis participated in this survey. More than 80% of participants reported that it was easy to learn to use this application, and no one described this application as very complicated or reported that they needed a long time to learn how to use it. About 80% of participants were satisfied with this application, and 70% reported that they received help as a result of using this application.

Conclusions: This study suggests that this smartphone application is useful for young individuals with early psychosis and that it may contribute to the development of both young customer- and case manager-friendly systems for this clinical population.