Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31815193›Full record

ReviewNPJ digital medicine2019

Standalone smartphone apps for mental health-a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Kiona K Weisel, Lukas M Fuhrmann, Matthias Berking, Harald Baumeister, Pim Cuijpers, David D Ebert

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

Review in NPJ digital medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05055674 (Randomized Controlled Trial Testing the Effects of Motherly), which is not on this map. Cited by 196 papers, 19 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
196citing papers in PubMed, 19 pooled it
38.8field-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.

NCT05055674 naunknown statusnot on this mapstarted 2021, after this paper: background citation

Randomized Controlled Trial Testing the Effects of Motherly: a Standalone Smartphone Application Treatment for Women With Postpartum Depression

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of Sao PauloRan2021 to 2022Enrolled264ConditionsPostpartum DepressionArmsMotherly app, COMVC app
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

196 citing papers in PubMed, 19 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 471 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Effectiveness of unguided web-based interventions for the treatment of depressive symptoms in improving the quality of life: a meta-analysis.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
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  4. Smartphone-Based Hand Function Assessment: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024
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  19. Evaluating Commercially Available Mobile Apps for Depression Self-Management.AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings. AMIA Symposium · 2020
    Pooled it
  20. Trial

136 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

6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Kiona K Weisel1Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-1800-0044
Lukas M Fuhrmann1Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Matthias Berking1Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Harald Baumeister2Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
Pim Cuijpers3Department of Clinical, Neuro and Developmental Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
David D Ebert1Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg · DEPublic Health Service of Amsterdam · NLUniversität Ulm · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

While smartphone usage is ubiquitous, and the app market for smartphone apps targeted at mental health is growing rapidly, the evidence of standalone apps for treating mental health symptoms is still unclear. This meta-analysis investigated the efficacy of standalone smartphone apps for mental health. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in February 2018 on randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of standalone apps for mental health in adults with heightened symptom severity, compared to a control group. A random-effects model was employed. When insufficient comparisons were available, data was presented in a narrative synthesis. Outcomes included assessments of mental health disorder symptom severity specifically targeted at by the app. In total, 5945 records were identified and 165 full-text articles were screened for inclusion by two independent researchers. Nineteen trials with 3681 participants were included in the analysis: depression (

Indexed as

Human behaviourOutcomes researchPsychology

Identifiers

PMID31815193
PMCPMC6889400
OpenAlexW2990241465

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.