June 16, 2017
Leanne Hides, PhD
NHMRC Senior Research Fellow & Clinical Psychologist
Lives Lived Well Professor of Alcohol, Drugs & Mental Health
School of Psychology, University of Queensland
About the Presentation: Mobile health (mHealth) apps have the potential to increase access to mental health treatment and enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of current treatments. However, despite the proliferation of mHealth apps, there are growing concerns about their quality, safety and effectiveness. To begin addressing these issues, we developed the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) to provide a framework for classifying and assessing the objective and subjective quality of apps, as well as their perceived impact. Both professional and user versions of the MARS are now available and we have recently developed the eHealth Rating Scale (eHRS) to assess and compare the quality of mHealth apps and websites. This seminar will describe the key features of the MARS/eHRS and how they have been applied to the development of an app targeting risky alcohol use and a website targeting psychotic like experiences in young cannabis users.
About the Presenter: Professor Leanne Hides holds an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship and the industry-supported Lives Lived Well Chair in Alcohol, Drugs and Mental Health at the University of Queensland. She is a senior clinical psychologist with over 17 years of clinical and research experience in the treatment of primary and comorbid substance use disorders. Leanne led a major research program developing web program and mobile apps for the $27m Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) between 2011 and 2016.