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The best manner to prevent suicide is to recognize suicidal signs and signals, and know how to respond to them.
We aim to study the existing mobile apps for suicide prevention in the literature and the most commonly used virtual stores.
Two reviews were carried out. The first was done by searching the most commonly used commercial app stores, which are iTunes and Google Play. The second was a review of mobile health (mHealth) apps in published articles within the last 10 years in the following 7 scientific databases: Science Direct, Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, The Cochrane Library, IEEE Xplore, and Google Scholar.
A total of 124 apps related to suicide were found in the cited virtual stores but only 20 apps were specifically designed for suicide prevention. All apps were free and most were designed for Android. Furthermore, 6 relevant papers were found in the indicated scientific databases; in these studies, some real experiences with physicians, caregivers, and families were described. The importance of these people in suicide prevention was indicated.
The number of apps regarding suicide prevention is small, and there was little information available from literature searches, indicating that technology-based suicide prevention remains understudied. Many of the apps provided no interactive features. It is important to verify the accuracy of the results of different apps that are available on iOS and Android. The confidence generated by these apps can benefit end users, either by improving their health monitoring or simply to verify their body condition.
According to the World Health Organization, approximately one million people commit suicide each year, which is the second leading cause of death among people from 15 to 29 years of age [
It is important to highlight the fact that suicides are preventable; prevention efforts would require a comprehensive multi-sectorial prevention response in all countries. Based on the societal impacts that suicide has in many countries, it is very important that health services incorporate suicide prevention as a central component. In addition, alcohol consumption and mental disorders contribute to many suicides worldwide [
Early identification and effective management are key for people at risk for suicide, so they can receive the care they need [
People feel anxiety and some situations can cause them to make decisions to end their life. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) can provide innovations to support the work of health professionals to address this issue. Mobile apps can also provide a valuable resource for communities and individuals by addressing social issues [
Mobile health (mHealth) is a part of electronic health and refers to computers, smartphones, mobile health apps, and patient monitoring services and apps used for the purpose of positively increasing access to health information. For many health issues, especially those related to mental health prevention, remote patient monitoring is a good start and mobile apps on smartphones are an available means that can save costs and benefit hard-to-reach populations. However, it is important to verify the accuracy of the results of different apps that are available on the virtual stores, such as iOS [
The goal of this paper is to present the state of the art of mobile apps designed to prevent suicide, in English and Spanish languages. This review of the scientific literature is presented to show scientific studies that demonstrate how such apps have been developed, and the results that have been obtained, when using mobile apps. This review allows us to promote the discussion of the results found, and to communicate the current state of these technologies to other members of the scientific community.
Two reviews have been completed; the first was carried out by searching the most commonly used commercial apps stores, which are Google Play [
The search terms used for virtual stores were “
Flow chart of the steps in the review.
A total of 20 relevant apps were found in the Google Play and Apple App Stores, although we note that some apps were available in both stores. A classification of these apps is shown in
A total of 6 relevant papers were found in the online databases that were searched. Shand et al [
Aguirre et al [
Larsen et al [
Kennard et al [
Suicide prevention is a health issue, and it is important that apps in this field are supported by professionals who make these tools as a way to care for their patients, and to prevent this situation that affects many countries.
Few commercial mobile apps aimed at suicide prevention exist, compared to other pathologies such as cardiology [
Marasinghe et al [
Based on our experience in clinical and real cases, we conclude that mHealth apps are an essential tool that can help us to prevent suicide, considering the family, caregivers, and health professionals that are part of helping to save a life through the use of ICTs. Therefore, we consider it fundamental that clinical support provides validity to the apps offered on the Internet. The bibliographic review allowed us to examine the apps based on scientific studies from real cases that generated proven results.
As future work, we will develop and evaluate a suicide prevention app by looking at the shortcomings detected in the apps that were analyzed in this work. Saving even a single life via a mobile app is a breakthrough.
Suicide prevention apps in virtual stores.
information and communications technology
mobile health
This research was partially supported by the European Commission and the Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Tourism under the project AAL-20125036 named
None declared.