Assessing College Students' Perceptions of and Intentions to Use a Mobile App for Mental Health

Background: College students face high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide. Therefore, the focus of this study was to examine college students' intention to use a mental health app provided by the university, called MySSP, through use of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). Materials and Methods: An online survey was developed based on responses to focus groups previously conducted by the authors regarding MySSP. A multiple linear regression was conducted to test the associations between the UTAUT variables and behavioral intention. In addition, moderation analyses were conducted to explore the effects of depression, anxiety, stigma, and quality of life as moderators. Results: Results suggest that performance expectancy (PE) (t = 3.088, p = 0.003) and social influence (SI) (t = -2.163, p = 0.03) were the only significant predictors of behavioral intention. The only significant moderator was stigma in the relationship between effort expectancy and behavioral intention (b = -1.6081, standard error (SE) = 0.7454, confidence interval (CI): -3.0691 to -0.1472) as well as facilitating conditions (FCs) and behavioral intention (b = -2.2292, SE = 0.8580, CI: -3.9110 to -0.5475). Conclusions: This study provides an initial exploration of college students' intentions to use MySSP. The results suggest that successful interventions include features related to PE (usefulness) and SI (norms), which should be focused on when developing and testing apps for mental health. Additionally, the stigma of mental health has significant negative impacts on the adoption of mental health apps and should be considered in implementation of mental health interventions geared toward college students.

Automated summary

The study examined college students' intention to use the mental health app MySSP, finding that performance expectancy and social influence were the main predictors of behavioral intention. Successful interventions for college students should focus on features related to usefulness and norms, while considering the negative impact of mental health stigma on app adoption.