How to Use Mobile Mental Health Apps Ethically
Abstract
APA’s Ethics Committee routinely responds to questions from APA members, and the opinions are posted on APA’s website and published in Psychiatric News. This opinion is published as Opinion N.32 in The Opinions of the Ethics Committee on the Principles of Medical Ethics.
Q. What are the ethical considerations in regard to the use of mobile mental health apps in the care of patients?
A. Technology is continuously and rapidly advancing. This includes both the hardware and software available and the ways individuals might use them. The surge of innovative models has raised promise for increasing access to healthcare. One of these innovations is the use of mobile health apps. Many mental health professionals are having conversations with their patients and colleagues regarding the usefulness of mobile health applications in the delivery of care to patients or have already begun using such applications. Per Henson et al, there are “over 325,000 [apps] to choose from across all health domains.” But within this booming industry, many questions are raised regarding how to determine the appropriate applications to use, the ethical concerns surrounding mobile health app use, and how to effectively use these apps in treatment, especially in providing mental health care.
Clinicians should always consider ethical principles when providing clinical care to the patients they serve. With regard to the use of mobile health technology in their everyday practice, mental health providers should judiciously review the pros and cons of any device or applications, especially paying attention to potential legal and ethical risks, such as HIPAA or HITECH violations. Recent Opinions of the APA Ethics Committee on The Principles of Medical Ethics With Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry (2020) 9 If clinicians choose to consider the use of any mental health app to aid in the care that they provide, how would they find the best one? The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has developed a model for app evaluation, which psychiatrists and other clinicians can use with their patients to evaluate apps that the clinician and patient may consider. This model is set up as a hierarchical rating system that provides some guidance questions to think about and discuss with your patient when choosing an app. Such questions center around major themes like Privacy/Security, Ease of Use, and Evidence. For more information and examples of how to use the model, please view the “App Advisor: An American Psychiatric Association Initiative”.
In considering the use of mental health apps, here are a few of the key matters related to ethical principles that psychiatrists and other mental health professionals should consider and discuss with their patients.
Confidentiality remains a key principle for psychiatric care. Consider the privacy and security of the app. What data will be collected? What safeguards are in place to protect the information stored by the app? Patients should be confident that personal health information and other personal information will be secure. Torous et al (2019) have recommended that standards be developed and agreed upon regarding data safety and privacy, that apps have transparency of their data storage, use, and sharing practices, and that patients have an option to opt out of data storage and uses that they find objectionable.
Beneficence and non-maleficence: Psychiatrists have ethical obligations to strive to benefit their patients and to prevent harm. In evaluating apps, psychiatrists and their patients should consider: What benefits could be expected from using this app? What is the evidence that has been gathered for the benefits and possible harms of use? A recent literature review (Gould et al, 2019) addressing mental health apps created by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense found support for the feasibility and acceptability of the apps, but scarce research support for efficacy and effectiveness, with a few exceptions. Clinicians were advised to not overstate the potential for benefits. However, there is substantial ongoing research on the benefits of using mental health apps, and the evidence for these benefits can be expected to grow.
Autonomy, truthfulness, and the doctor-patient relationship: What would be the patient’s and the psychiatrist’s goals in using an app? How do these goals conform or not conform to each other? What are the psychiatrist and patient committing or promising to do?
This last matter is especially important. Patients may hope, for example, that their entering data into the app will convey important information to the psychiatrist on an immediate or short time-frame basis, and that the psychiatrist would see and respond to anything of importance. Psychiatrists should be clear about what will actually occur. For example, they should clarify that they will not be continually monitoring or regularly reviewing input from the patient. Rather, they might review data and questions at their regularly scheduled contacts. Psychiatrists may wish to specifically direct that with urgent or emergency concerns, the patient should contact the psychiatrist according to the psychiatrist’s standard methods and not depend on the app for such communications.
Even with the new avenues of receiving some care with technology, one must understand the possible limitations it may place on the psychiatrist-patient relationship. A traditional relationship between a physician and patient relies on trust, discernment, availability, and confidentiality (except in certain circumstances such as patient safety). Current research studies indicate several pitfalls with the use of apps, including accessibility and adherence by the patient and physician. There will be challenges in finding apps that are useful and practical for both the patient and clinician. Any clinician willing to use mental health applications should carefully consider how they will be used and have a thoughtful conversation with their patients regarding their use.
Before they embark on innovative technology usage in practice, we advise that clinicians consider the potential liability connected with such usage and engage in an informed consent process with the patient, including disclosure of any financial interest the psychiatrist may have in the app. The app is an aid to the overall care delivery for the patient and not a replacement of the interactions with the provider. There is also some potential for boundary crossings or violations when the therapeutic relationship steps outside the confinements of a traditional setting.
Some psychiatrists or other clinicians may experience pressure or even mandates from employers or insurers to use particular apps with patients in their practice. How should the professional respond to such pressures? The psychiatrist should still evaluate the app in a similar way that they would if they or the patient were proposing use. If in their review they found issues with the app that made use ethically questionable, they might have some obligation to resist pressures or mandates to use the app. For example, the psychiatrist might ask for or insist on discussing the ethical issues among the parties involved. Arguably the patient should know about the treating clinician’s concerns and provide informed consent to the use of the app with knowledge of these concerns. Experts advise that the APA, the AMA, the British National Health Service, and other international organizations should develop consensus standards for mental health apps addressing such issues as data safety and privacy, efficacy and effectiveness, user experience and adherence, and data integration in health records. Much of this work is already underway. In addition, there is the potential for user participation in the development and oversight of apps, and for physician and other clinician cooperation and alliance in this development and oversight. Such collaboration can increase the likelihood of achieving the promise of mental health apps and other technology to increase access to effective mental health care.
Given the rapidly evolving nature of this topic, here are some additional references that psychiatrists may find useful:
American Psychiatric Association. App Evaluation Model. Accessed February 26, 2020.
Gould, C. E., Kok, B. C., Ma, V. K., Zapata, A. M. L., Owen, J. E., & Kuhn, E. (2019). Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense mental health apps: A systematic literature review. Psychological Services, 16(2), 196–207.
Henson P, David G, Albright K, and Torous J. Deriving a practical framework for the evaluation of health apps. The Lancet. 2019;1: e54.
Lustgarten SD, Elhai JD. Technology use in mental health practice and research: Legal and ethical risks. Clin Psychol Sci Pract. 2018;25: e12234.
Mohr DC, Weingardt KR, Reddy M, Schueller SM. Three Problems With Current Digital Mental Health Research . . . and Three Things We Can Do About Them. Psychiatric Serv. 2017;68(5):427-429. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201600541.
Torous J, Andersson G, Bertagnoli A, et al. Towards a consensus around standards for smartphone apps and digital mental health. World Psychiatry. 2019;18(1):97-98. doi:10.1002/wps.20592. (Section 5) (2020). ■
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