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BACKGROUND With increases in both the number of mental health disorders people are experiencing and the difficulty in accessing mental health care, the demand for accessible mental health care services has increased. The use of mobile devices has allowed people to receive care in their daily lives without restrictions from time or location. However, the majority of publicly available mobile health apps are not evidence-based, and the top-rated apps are not always safe or user-friendly and may not offer clinically beneficial results. OBJECTIVE This study aims to create a cultural adaptation of the American Psychiatric Association’s comprehensive app-evaluation framework in Japan using a modified Delphi expert consensus. METHODS A modified Delphi study has three rounds. In the first round, our working group sends a questionnaire to the panelists, who then complete it. In the second and third rounds, the working group sends a questionnaire and a summary of the panelists’ answers based on each of the previous rounds. The panelists answer the questionnaires based on this summary. The summarization procedure is automated to help reduce the biases that can be generated when panelists’ answers are summarized and when the panelists receive them. The working group sends only the result of the summarization with the next round’s questionnaire. All interactions between the working group and the panelists will be conducted on Qualtrics, a questionnaire platform. To culturally validate the comprehensive mental health app evaluation framework, participants from the following three categories will be recruited in Japan: (a) researchers, (b) practitioners, and (c) app developers. RESULTS This study received funding from a crowdfunding campaign in Japan (https://readyfor.jp/projects/mhealth-app-db). The Delphi study would begin in January 2023. We have already completed the translation of the 105 original application evaluation item questions by December 2022. CONCLUSIONS The results of the modified Delphi method presented in this paper may provide direction for the development and use of mental health apps in the future. |
