Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30762511›Full record

ArticleBJPsych open2019

Digital mental health apps and the therapeutic alliance: initial review.

Philip Henson, Hannah Wisniewski, Chris Hollis, Matcheri Keshavan, John Torous

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BJPsych open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05891431 (Acceptability and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Mobile Health Intervention), which is not on this map. Cited by 87 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
87citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
11.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT05891431 naactive not recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2023, after this paper: background citation

Acceptability and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Mobile Health Intervention (Untire App) for Adult Cancer Patients and Survivors With Cancer Related Fatigue: A Pilot Clinical Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of BathRan2023 to 2025Enrolled34ConditionsCancer-related Problem/Condition, Cancer-related FatigueArmsUntire mobile app
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

87 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 159 citations in OpenAlex.

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  4. Digital interventions in mental health: evidence syntheses and economic modelling.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2022
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27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Philip HensonResearch Assistant,Division of Digital Psychiatry,Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,Harvard Medical School,USA.
Hannah WisniewskiResearch Assistant,Division of Digital Psychiatry,Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,Harvard Medical School,USA.
Chris HollisChair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Director,NIHR MindTech MedTech Co-operative,NIHR Nottingham BRC Mental Health;and Technology Theme Lead,University of Nottingham and Institute of Mental Health,UK.
Matcheri KeshavanStanley Cobb Professor and Vice-Chair for Public Psychiatry,Department of Psychiatry,Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,Harvard Medical School,USA.
John TorousDirector of Digital Psychiatry,Departments of Psychiatry and Clinical Informatics,Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,Harvard Medical School,USA.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center · USNIHR MindTech MedTech Co-operative · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAs mental healthcare expands to smartphone apps and other technologies that may offer therapeutic interventions without a therapist involved, it is important to assess the impact of non-traditional therapeutic relationships.AimsTo determine if there were any meaningful data regarding the digital therapeutic alliance in smartphone interventions for serious mental illnesses.

methodA literature search was conducted in four databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase and Web of Science).

resultsThere were five studies that discuss the therapeutic alliance when a mobile application intervention is involved in therapy. However, in none of the studies was the digital therapeutic alliance the primary outcome. The studies looked at different mental health conditions, had different duration of technology use and used different methods for assessing the therapeutic alliance.

conclusionsAssessing and optimising the digital therapeutic alliance holds the potential to make tools such as smartphone apps more effective and improve adherence to their use. However, the heterogeneous nature of the five studies we identified make it challenging to draw conclusions at this time. A measure is required to evaluate the digital therapeutic alliance.

Indexed as

allianceIndividual PsychotherapySmartphone

Identifiers

PMID30762511
PMCPMC6381418
OpenAlexW2914097626

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.