@article{Miralles-Tena2020b,

title = {Smartphone apps for the treatment of mental disorders: a systematic review},

author = {Ignacio Miralles-Tena and Carlos Granell-Canut and Laura Díaz-Sanahuja and William Van Woensel and Juana Bretón-López and Adriana Mira and Diana Castilla and Sven Casteleyn},

doi = {10.2196/14897},

issn = {2291-5222},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-03-04},

journal = {JMIR mHealth and uHealth},

volume = {8},

number = {3},

pages = {e14897},

abstract = {Background: Smartphone apps are an increasingly popular means for delivering psychological interventions to patients suffering from a mental disorder. In line with this popularity, there is a need to analyze and summarize the state of the art, both from a psychological and technical perspective.

Objective: This study aimed to systematically review the literature on the use of smartphones for psychological interventions. Our systematic review has the following objectives: (1) analyze the coverage of mental disorders in research articles per year; (2) study the types of assessment in research articles per mental disorder per year; (3) map the use of advanced technical features, such as sensors, and novel software features, such as personalization and social media, per mental disorder; (4) provide an overview of smartphone apps per mental disorder; and (5) provide an overview of the key characteristics of empirical assessments with rigorous designs (ie, randomized controlled trials [RCTs]).

Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for systematic reviews were followed. We performed searches in Scopus, Web of Science, American Psychological Association PsycNET, and Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, covering a period of 6 years (2013-2018). We included papers that described the use of smartphone apps to deliver psychological interventions for known mental disorders. We formed multidisciplinary teams, comprising experts in psychology and computer science, to select and classify articles based on psychological and technical features.

Results: We found 158 articles that met the inclusion criteria. We observed an increasing interest in smartphone-based interventions over time. Most research targeted disorders with high prevalence, that is, depressive (31/158,19.6%) and anxiety disorders (18/158, 11.4%). Of the total, 72.7% (115/158) of the papers focused on six mental disorders: depression, anxiety, trauma and stressor-related, substance-related and addiction, schizophrenia spectrum, and other psychotic disorders, or a combination of disorders. More than half of known mental disorders were not or very scarcely (<3%) represented. An increasing number of studies were dedicated to assessing clinical effects, but RCTs were still a minority (25/158, 15.8%). From a technical viewpoint, interventions were leveraging the improved modalities (screen and sound) and interactivity of smartphones but only sparingly leveraged their truly novel capabilities, such as sensors, alternative delivery paradigms, and analytical methods.

Conclusions: There is a need for designing interventions for the full breadth of mental disorders, rather than primarily focusing on most prevalent disorders. We further contend that an increasingly systematic focus, that is, involving RCTs, is needed to improve the robustness and trustworthiness of assessments. Regarding technical aspects, we argue that further exploration and innovative use of the novel capabilities of smartphones are needed to fully realize their potential for the treatment of mental health disorders.},

note = {IF},

keywords = {Health applications, mental health, Mobile apps, symptoms},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Miralles-Tena2020,

title = {Enhancing in vivo exposure in the treatment of panic disorder and agoraphobia using location-based technologies: A case report},

author = {Ignacio Miralles-Tena and Carlos Granell-Canut and Azucena García-Palacios and Diana Castilla and Alberto González-Pérez and Sven Casteleyn and Juana Bretón-López.},

isbn = {1534-6501},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-03-01},

journal = {Clinical case studies},

volume = {19},

number = {2},

pages = {145-159},

abstract = {Panic disorder (PD) is quite prevalent and often appears along with agoraphobia (PD/A). The treatment of choice is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Transdiagnostic intervention, an emotion-focused, cognitive behavioral intervention that has led to the Unified Protocol (UP), emphasizes the common underlying mechanisms that contribute to the development and maintenance of emotional disorders such as PD/A. A core feature of this treatment approach is in vivo exposure (IVE) to feared situations, which aims to prevent avoidance behaviors and encourages the patient to confront feared situations gradually. It is a difficult component for patients, especially when implementing the exposure on their own. Different feedback formats can be used to increase adequate IVE and reduce overt or subtle avoidance. The use of smartphones is a very useful option to initiate and sustain exposure behavior. The purpose of this study is to describe the use of location-based technologies (LBTs) during the IVE component of the UP treatment of a 47-year-old patient with PD/A. The acceptability and usability of the system were assessed. The Symptoms platform was employed during the exposure module, using LBT with a smartphone app. The patient reported positive expectations, high satisfaction scores, and an overall satisfactory experience. Enhancing key therapeutic components during treatment through the development of media-based tools is a very promising future research aim, and the possibility of using advanced smartphone features should be explored.},

keywords = {Health applications, LBS, mental health, symptoms},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Miralles-Tena2019,

title = {Considerations for designing context-aware mobile apps for mental health interventions},

author = {Ignacio Miralles-Tena and Carlos Granell-Canut},

doi = {10.3390/ijerph16071197},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-03-15},

journal = {International journal of environmental research and public health},

volume = {6},

number = {7},

pages = {1197},

abstract = {This work identifies major areas of knowledge and proposes a set of relevant dimensions by area that must be taken into account in the design and delivery of context-aware  mobile applications for mental health interventions. We argue that much of the related research has focused only on a few dimensions, paying little or no attention to others and, most importantly, to potential relationships between them. Our belief is that the improvement of the effectiveness of mobile interventions to support mental health necessarily implies that developers and therapists comprehensively consider the interaction between the proposed dimensions. Taking as a starting point the three areas of knowledge (Technology, Context, and Mental Health), we re-examine each area to identify relevant dimensions, discuss the relationships between them and finally draw a series of 

 considerations. The resulting considerations can help therapists and developers to devise, design, and generate custom mobile applications in a way that increases the motivation and engagement of patients and, therefore, the effectiveness of psychological treatments.},

note = {IF},

keywords = {context-aware computing, FPU_Miralles, Health applications, Mobile apps, RyC-Granell, symptoms},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Trilles2017b,

title = {An Indoor Positioning System Based on Wearables for Ambient-Assisted Living},

author = {Óscar Belmonte-Fernández and Antonio Puertas-Cabedo and Joaquín Torres-Sospedra and Raúl Montoliu-Colás and Sergio Trilles-Oliver},

url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10234/165378},

doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s17010036},

issn = {1424-8220},

year  = {2017},

date = {2017-02-01},

journal = {Sensors},

volume = {17},

pages = {36},

abstract = {The urban population is growing at such a rate that by 2050 it is estimated that 84% of the world’s population will live in cities, with flats being the most common living place. Moreover, WiFi technology is present in most developed country urban areas, with a quick growth in developing countries. New Ambient-Assisted Living applications will be developed in the near future having user positioning as ground technology: elderly tele-care, energy consumption, security and the like are strongly based on indoor positioning information. We present an Indoor Positioning System for wearable devices based on WiFi fingerprinting. Smart-watch wearable devices are used to acquire the WiFi strength signals of the surrounding Wireless Access Points used to build an ensemble of Machine Learning classification algorithms. Once built, the ensemble algorithm is used to locate a user based on the WiFi strength signals provided by the wearable device. Experimental results for five different urban flats are reported, showing that the system is robust and reliable enough for locating a user at room level into his/her home. Another interesting characteristic of the presented system is that it does not require deployment of any infrastructure, and it is unobtrusive, the only device required for it to work is a smart-watch},

keywords = {Health applications, Indoor positioning},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{GranellCanut2014,

title = {Geospatial information infrastructures to address spatial needs in health: Collaboration, challenges and opportunities},

author = { Carlos Granell-Canut and Óscar Belmonte-Fernández and Laura Díaz-Sánchez},

url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10234/89109},

doi = {10.1016/j.future.2013.04.002},

issn = {0167739X},

year  = {2014},

date = {2014-01-01},

journal = {Future Generation Computer Systems},

volume = {31},

number = {1},

pages = {213-222},

abstract = {Most health-related issues such as public health outbreaks and epidemiological threats are better understood from a spatial-temporal perspective and, clearly demand related geospatial datasets and services so that decision makers may jointly make informed decisions and coordinate response plans. Although current health applications support a kind of geospatial features, these are still disconnected from the wide range of geospatial services and datasets that geospatial information infrastructures may bring into health. In this paper we are questioning the hypothesis whether geospatial information infrastructures, in terms of standards-based geospatial services, technologies, and data models as operational assets already in place, can be exploited by health applications for which the geospatial dimension is of great importance. This may be certainly addressed by defining better collaboration strategies to uncover and promote geospatial assets to the health community. We discuss the value of collaboration, as well as the opportunities that geographic information infrastructures offer to address geospatial challenges in health applications. textcopyright 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.},

note = {IF: 2.786, Q1},

keywords = {Geospatial Information Infrastructures, Geospatial services, Health applications, Spatial data infrastructures (SDI)},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}