User reviews of mental health screening and diagnostic apps: A sentiment and thematic analysis

Mental health screening and diagnostic applications (apps) are becoming increasingly popular. Despite there being promise in their acceptability by users, many mental health apps on the market still suffer from high dropout due to a multitude of issues. Understanding user opinions towards currently available mental health apps beyond star ratings alone can provide a wealth of knowledge which has potential to inform the development of future mental health screening or diagnostic assessment apps. A scoping review of the iOS and Google Play app stores was performed to identify apps which met our inclusion criteria. The most helpful reviews from the last year were shortlisted for sentiment and thematic analysis. The first objective of this study is to perform sentiment analysis of user reviews to understand the overall experience of mental health screening or diagnostic app users. The second aim of the study is to identify features which app users perceived to be benefits or barriers to app use. Following analysis, recommendations will be made for improving mental health screening or diagnostic apps based off user review insights.