title: Development of a Mobile Phone App to Support Self-Monitoring of Emotional Well-Being: A Mental Health Digital Innovation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emotional well-being is a primary component of mental health and well-being. Monitoring changes in emotional state daily over extended periods is, however, difficult using traditional methodologies. Providing mental health support is also challenging when approximately only 1 in 2 people with mental health issues seek professional help. Mobile phone technology offers a sustainable means of enhancing self-management of emotional well-being.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This paper aims to describe the development of a mobile phone tool designed to monitor emotional changes in a natural everyday context and in real time.
  
  
  METHODS
  This evidence-informed mobile phone app monitors emotional mental health and well-being, and it provides links to mental health organization websites and resources. The app obtains data via self-report psychological questionnaires, experience sampling methodology (ESM), and automated behavioral data collection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Feedback from 11 individuals (age range 16-52 years; 4 males, 7 females), who tested the app over 30 days, confirmed via survey and focus group methods that the app was functional and usable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recommendations for future researchers and developers of mental health apps to be used for research are also presented. The methodology described in this paper offers a powerful tool for a range of potential mental health research studies and provides a valuable standard against which development of future mental health apps should be considered.
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Well-being Research Unit, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia.|Centre for Positive Psychology, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Nikki
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4236-8538
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rickard
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Well-being Research Unit, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia.
authors.forename: Hussain-Abdulah
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3975-7276
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Arjmand
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Well-being Research Unit, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0343-1100
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bakker
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Well-being Research Unit, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1844-127X
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Seabrook
keywords: eHealth; emotions; feedback; mental health; mobile phone