University of Twente Student Theses
The association between the use of the app #SelfCare and young women’s mood over time
Lehmkühler, J.K. (2021) The association between the use of the app #SelfCare and young women’s mood over time.
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| Abstract: | Introduction: Mental health problems are increasingly present nowadays, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, therapy options are limited and not accessible for everyone. Within the process of digitalization, new opportunities to prevent and treat mental health problems arose, among them mobile self-help interventions. Further, is mental health no longer defined as the mere absence of a mental disorder but includes positive wellbeing and positive emotions as substantial elements. #SelfCare is a positive psychological self-compassion app that aims to improve psychological well-being by means of relaxation, distraction, reappraisal and goal-setting. The aim is to investigate the effect of playing #SelfCare on positive and negative mood. Methods: In a 7-day experience sampling study, female respondents (N = 132) between 18 and 31 years with mild to moderate DASS-scores were asked to rate eight feelings on a 7-point-likert scale five times a day. Their use of #SelfCare was tracked via the EARS tool. Linear Mixed Modelling was used to analyze its effect on levels of happiness, relaxation, energy, satisfaction, worry, irritation/anger, guilt/embarrassment and sadness. Results: Generally, positive emotions were more present among the sample than negative emotions. Most emotions were not associated with playing #SelfCare, but two were found to be slightly, but significantly improved, namely happiness with a mean difference of 0.15 (SE = .06; p = .019) and relaxation with a mean difference of 0.19 (SE = .08; p = .011). Discussion: Playing #SelfCare had no significant effect on most emotions but a small improving effect on happiness and relaxation among users. Since mood was not negatively impacted during the intervention, #SelfCare might have a preventive effect. Experience Sampling is a useful tool to explore fluctuations of emotions over time and is recommended for future research. Future longitudinal studies should investigate potential long-term effects and the dose-response association of app usage and mood improvement. Studies should include sample with higher scores on the DASS to test the effect of #SelfCare to improve negative mood. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/88921 |
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