%0 Journal Article
%@ 2291-5222
%I JMIR Publications
%V 6
%N 5
%P e111
%T Managing and Controlling Stress Using mHealth: Systematic Search in App Stores
%A Blázquez Martín,David
%A De La Torre,Isabel
%A Garcia-Zapirain,Begonya
%A Lopez-Coronado,Miguel
%A Rodrigues,Joel
%+ Faculty of Engineering, University of Deusto, Avenida de las Universidades 24, Bilbao,, Spain, 34 944 139 000, mbgarciazapi@deusto.es
%K apps
%K control
%K management
%K mHealth
%K stress
%D 2018
%7 09.05.2018
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Mhealth Uhealth
%G English
%X Background: Traditional stress management techniques have been proven insufficient to tackle the needs of today’s population. Computational-based techniques and now mobile health (mHealth) apps are showing promise to enable ease of use and access while educating end users on self-management. Objective: The main aim of this paper was to put forward a systematic review of mHealth apps for stress management. Methods: The scenario chosen for this study consists of a sample of the most relevant mHealth apps found on the British and Spanish online stores of the two main mobile operating systems: iOS and Android. The apps have been categorized and scored base on their impact, presence, number of results, language, and operating system. Results: A total of 433 different mobile apps for stress management was analyzed. Of these apps, 21.7% (94/433) belonged to the “relaxing music” category, 10.9% (47/433) were in the “draw and paint” category, 1.2% (5/433) belonged to the “heart rate control” category, and 1.2% (5/433) fell under “integral methodology.” Only 2.0% (8/433) of the apps qualified as high or medium interest while 98.0% were low interest. Furthermore, 2.0% (8/433) of the apps were available on both iOS and Android, and 98% of apps ran on only one platform (iOS or Android). Conclusions: There are many low-value apps available at the moment, but the analysis shows that they are adding new functionalities and becoming fully integrated self-management systems with extra capabilities such as professional assistance services and online support communities. 
%M 29743152
%R 10.2196/mhealth.8866
%U http://mhealth.jmir.org/2018/5/e111/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.8866
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29743152