Awareness and Attitudes Towards Mobile Mental Health Applications Among Patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) in Hospital Al-Sultan Abdullah UiTM

Background In Malaysia, there is a gap between rising prevalence of mental disorder and limited specialist resources. Mobile mental health (mHealth) apps have a potential to address the issue, but it is still uncertain how different diagnostic profile – GAD and MDD perceive and utilise the tools. This study examined awareness and attitude towards mental illness and digital readiness between MDD and GAD patients. Methods A cross-sectional study design was used to examine baseline data from a pilot Randomised Controlled Trial conducted at the psychiatric clinic in Hospital Al-Sultan Abdullah (HASA), UiTM. 74 participants (38 with MDD and 36 with GAD) were recruited through consecutive sampling. Sociodemographic questionnaires, the PHQ-9, the GAD-7, and a validated mHealth application awareness and attitudes survey were administered. Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were used to determine differences in app usage and perceived barriers. Results Smartphone ownership was ubiquitous (100%), and over 88% in both groups were willing to adopt mHealth apps. However, the actual engagement in application use differed: GAD subjects were more likely to use mindfulness apps than MDD (50.0% versus 26.3%, P  = 0.036). With respect to barriers, concern about privacy was more often present in GAD patients (66.7%) than MDD patients (44.7%) (P = 0.058). Although there was strong interest in the use of mHealth app, more than 60% of patients did not know where to find suitable apps for mental health intervention. Conclusions Although both cohorts are digitally literate and open to mHealth adoption, barriers to adoption are diagnoses-specific. Patients with MDD appears limited in using self-monitoring application due to motivational deficit related to their symptom severity, while fear of data exposure is the major source of barriers in GAD patients. Thus, a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach may be insufficient, hence the need for a clinician-guided digital prescription to address the issue.