Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Conference on Persuasive Technology

PERSUASIVE 2022: Persuasive Technology pp 190–207Cite as

Saving Life and Keeping Privacy: A Study on Mobile Apps for Suicide Prevention and Privacy Policies

Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS,volume 13213)

Abstract

Suicide is a severe public health issue that impacts the lives of many individuals. Mobile health applications (apps) open new possibilities for safety by daily self-monitoring of suicide-related symptoms, which can help with safety planning. These mobile apps can help health professionals and specialists by providing follow-up and care throughout the treatment of patients with suicidal intents. A rising variety of suicide prevention measures based on the usage of new technologies are being developed now. In this paper, we reviewed literature on suicide prevention and also reviewed apps on the Apple App Store (App Store) and the Google Play Store (Play Store) focusing on the persuasive strategies used and the importance given to the privacy of the user. Our findings show that while most apps operationalize persuasive strategies, there is a lack of research on how users’ privacy is managed. We also found a lack in adopting an evidence-based approach in preventing suicide. Based on our findings, we recommend designers adopt more evidence-based approaches in helping individuals who are struggling with suicide and use technology to enforce privacy and data protection. Also, developers of suicide mobile intervention should design more interactive apps rather than passive apps and apply a user-center design approach. From our analysis, we offer some design recommendations and propose a communication protocol to enforce privacy when sharing sensitive data for suicide apps.

Keywords

  • Persuasive strategies
  • User-centric design approach
  • Suicide prevention
  • Evidence-based approach
  • Privacy

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Alqahtani, F., Khalifah, G.A., Oyebode, O., Orji, R.: Apps for mental health: an evaluation of behavior change strategies and recommendations for future development. Front. Artif. Intell. 2, 30 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3389/FRAI.2019.00030/BIBTEX

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  2. Alqahtani, F., Orji, R.: Usability issues in mental health applications. In: ACM UMAP 2019 Adjunct - Adjunct Publication of the 27th Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization, Haapie, pp. 343–348 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1145/3314183.3323676

  3. Bakker, K., Moulding, R.: Sensory-processing sensitivity, dispositional mindfulness and negative psychological symptoms. Pers. Individ. Differ. 53(3), 341–346 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PAID.2012.04.006

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  4. Beltagy, I., Peters, M.E., Cohan, A.: Longformer: the long-document transformer (2020). http://arxiv.org/abs/2004.05150. Accessed 15 Nov 2021

  5. Bogunovic, I., Mitrović, S., Scarlett, J., Cevher, V.: Robust submodular maximization: a non-uniform partitioning approach. In: 34th International Conference on Machine Learning, ICML 2017, vol. 1, pp. 783–801 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Buus, N., et al.: Stakeholder perspectives on using and developing the MYPLAN suicide prevention mobile phone application: a focus group study. Arch. Suicide Res. 24(1), 48–63 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2018.1489319

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  7. Castillo-Sánchez, G., Camargo-Henríquez, I., Muñoz-Sánchez, J.L., Franco-Martín, M., de la Torre-Díez, I.: Suicide prevention mobile apps: descriptive analysis of apps from the most popular virtual stores. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 7(8), 1–9 (2019). https://doi.org/10.2196/13885

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  8. Chaum, D.: Achieving electronic privacy. Sci. Am. 267(2), 96–101 (1992)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  9. Choo, C.C., Kuek, J.H.L., Burton, A.A.D.: Smartphone applications for mindfulness interventions with suicidality in Asian older adults: a literature review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 15, 12 (2018). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122810

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  10. Colzato, L.S., Ozturk, A., Hommel, B.: Meditate to create: the impact of focused-attention and open-monitoring training on convergent and divergent thinking. Front. Psychol. 3, 116 (2012). https://doi.org/10.3389/FPSYG.2012.00116

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  11. Dimeff, L., Linehan, M.M.: Dialectical behavior therapy in a nutshell. Calif. Psychol. 34(3), 10–13 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Franklin, J.C., et al.: A brief mobile app reduces nonsuicidal and suicidal self-injury: evidence from three randomized controlled trials. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 84(6), 544–557 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000093

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  13. Franzen, M.: Kappa coefficient. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology, pp. 1903–1904. Springer, Cham (2018)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  14. Gaur, M., et al.: Knowledge-aware assessment of severity of suicide risk for early intervention. In: The Web Conference 2019 - Proceedings of the World Wide Web Conference, WWW 2019, Cdc, pp. 514–525 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1145/3308558.3313698

  15. Honary, M., et al.: Shaping the design of smartphone-based interventions for self-harm. In: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – Proceedings (2020). https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376370

  16. Jeong, Y.W., Chang, H.J., Kim, J.A.: Development and feasibility of a safety plan mobile application for adolescent suicide attempt survivors. CIN – Comput. Inform. Nurs. 38(8), 382–392 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1097/CIN.0000000000000592

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  17. Larsen, M.E., Nicholas, J., Christensen, H.: A systematic assessment of smartphone tools for suicide prevention. PLoS ONE 11(4), 1–14 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0152285

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  18. Martínez-Miranda, J., et al.: Implementation of a health information system to support the screening and surveillance of suicidal behaviours. In: PervasiveHealth: Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, pp. 136–144 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1145/3418094.3418108

  19. McManama, K.H., O’Brien, M.L., Ross, A., Gironda, C., Wharff, E.A.: A pilot study of the acceptability and usability of a smartphone application intervention for suicidal adolescents and their parents. Arch. Suicide Res. 21(2), 254–264 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2016.1182094

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  20. Melia, R., et al.: Mobile health technology interventions for suicide prevention: systematic review. JMIR mHealth uHealth 8(1), e12516 (2020). https://doi.org/10.2196/12516

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  21. Miller, P., Newby, D., Walkom, E., Schneider, J., Li, S.C., Evans, T.J.: The performance and accuracy of depression screening tools capable of self-administration in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur. J. Psychiatry 35(1), 1–18 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EJPSY.2020.10.002

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  22. Morgiève, M., et al.: A digital companion, the Emma app, for ecological momentary assessment and prevention of suicide: quantitative case series study. JMIR mHealth uHealth 8(10), e15741 (2020). https://doi.org/10.2196/15741

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  23. Mouchabac, S., Leray, P., Adrien, V., Gollier-Briant, F., Bonnot, O.: Prevention of suicidal relapses in adolescents with a smartphone application: Bayesian network analysis of a preclinical trial using in silico patient simulations. J. Med. Internet Res. 23(9), 1–14 (2021). https://doi.org/10.2196/24560

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  24. O’Grady, C., Melia, R., Bogue, J., O’Sullivan, M., Young, K., Duggan, J.: A mobile health approach for improving outcomes in suicide prevention (SafePlan). J. Med. Internet Res. 22(7), e17481 (2020). https://doi.org/10.2196/17481

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  25. Oinas-Kukkonen, H., Harjumaa, M.: Persuasive systems design: key issues, process model, and system features. Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst. 24(1), 485–500 (2009). https://doi.org/10.17705/1cais.02428

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  26. Orji, R.: Why are persuasive strategies effective? Exploring the strengths and weaknesses of socially-oriented persuasive strategies. In: de Vries, P.W., Oinas-Kukkonen, H., Siemons, L., Beerlage-de Jong, N., van Gemert-Pijnen, L. (eds.) PERSUASIVE 2017. LNCS, vol. 10171, pp. 253–266. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55134-0_20

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  27. Orji, R., Moffatt, K.: Persuasive technology for health and wellness: state-of-the-art and emerging trends. Health Inform. J. 24(1), 66–91 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458216650979

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  28. Pang, N., Lu, H., Qian, L.: The entity analysis of social networks in Weibo with suicidal tendencies based on Bert, pp. 125–130 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1145/3468920.3468938

  29. Pendse, S.R., Sharma, A., Vashistha, A.: Can i not be suicidal on a sunday?: Understanding technology-mediated pathways to mental health support. In: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – Proceedings (2021). https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445410

  30. Pennou, A., Lecomte, T., Potvin, S., Khazaal, Y.: Mobile intervention for individuals with psychosis, dual disorders, and their common comorbidities: a literature review. Front. Psychiatry 10, 302 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00302

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  31. Petrik, M.L., Gutierrez, P.M., Berlin, J.S., Saunders, S.M.: Barriers and facilitators of suicide risk assessment in emergency departments: a qualitative study of provider perspectives. Gen. Hosp. Psychiatry 37(6), 581–586 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/J.GENHOSPPSYCH.2015.06.018

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  32. Tavani, H.T.: Philosophical theories of privacy: implications for an adequate online privacy policy. Metaphilosophy 38(1), 1–22 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1467-9973.2006.00474.X

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  33. Tighe, J., Shand, F., Ridani, R., MacKinnon, A., De La Mata, N., Christensen, H.: Ibobbly mobile health intervention for suicide prevention in Australian Indigenous youth: a pilot randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open 7(1), 1–10 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013518

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  34. Reddy, S.V., Ramani, K.S., Rijutha, K., Ali, S.M., Reddy, C.H.P.: Wireless hacking-a WiFi hack by cracking WEP. In: ICETC 2010 - 2010 2nd International Conference on Education Technology and Computer, vol. 1 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICETC.2010.5529269

  35. Suicide. https://www.who.int/health-topics/suicide#tab=tab_1. Accessed 15 Nov 2021

  36. Privacy Definition & Meaning. Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/privacy. 29 Nov 2021

  37. Biggest app stores in the world 2020. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/276623/number-of-apps-available-in-leading-app-stores/. Accessed 29 Nov 2021

  38. Better Stop Suicide app - Stop Suicide App. Suicide Prevention. Mental Health app. https://thebetterappcompany.com/better_stop_suicide. Accessed 28 Nov 2021

  39. DMHS: Interactive Suicide Prevention en App Store. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dmhs-interactive-suicide-prevention/id1136542675?l=es. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  40. Better Stop Suicide - Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.betterappcompany.betterstopsuicide. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  41. The LifeLine on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/the-lifeline/id752509889. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  42. Stay Alive on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/stay-alive/id915458967. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  43. ReMinder Suicide Safety Plan on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/reminder-suicide-safety-plan/id1407116715. Accessed 30 Nov 2021

  44. Prevent Suicide - NE Scotland - Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.faffdigital.PreventSuicide. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  45. R U Suicidal? – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.psychappsint.r.u.suicidal&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  46. Be Safe - Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.au.keepcalm.keepsafe&hl=en&gl=US. Accessed 28 Nov 2021

  47. My Tools – suicide.ca on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/mes-outils-suicide-ca/id1534604841. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  48. distrACT – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.expertselfcare.selfharm&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  49. Suicide? Help! Tayside – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.faffdigital.ChooseLife&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  50. Hope by CAMH on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/hope-by-camh/id1527950198. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  51. Am I? My Safety Plan on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/am-i-my-safety-plan/id1438254077. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  52. Suicide Prevention App – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.suicideprevention&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  53. Calm Urge: Self Harm Tracker on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/calm-urge-self-harm-tracker/id1551984419. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  54. My Life My Voice Mood Journal on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/my-life-my-voice-mood-journal/id626899759. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  55. TUFMINDS – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app_tufminds.layout&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  56. Suicide Prevention -Ways to Help a Suicidal Friend – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andromo.dev653868.app1026659&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  57. Prevent Suicide - Highland – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.faffdigital.PSHighland&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  58. Don’t panic - Depression and panic help – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dontpanic&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  59. Yellow Ribbon – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.yellowribbon&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  60. MoodTools - Depression Aid – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moodtools.moodtools&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  61. Suicide Safety Plan on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/suicide-safety-plan/id1003891579. Accessed 28 Nov 2021

  62. SafetyNet: Your Suicide Prevention App – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.application.safetynet&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  63. A Teen Suicide Prevention Anime for Android - APK Download. https://m.apkpure.com/a-teen-suicide-prevention-anime/zenbrina.com.flutter_app. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  64. Got Your Back - JS Foundation on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/got-your-back-js-foundation/id1512807496. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  65. Be aware of suicide for Android - APK Download. https://m.apkpure.com/be-aware-of-suicide/com.app.baosjrf. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  66. Self Harm Tracker - Sober, Be Calm, Harm Reduction – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sunny.meditationcare&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  67. Suicide Cliff - Visual Novel – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gamedanteam.GameDan_Team.Suicide_Cliff&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  68. Operation Reach Out – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=suicide.prevention.app&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  69. Self Harm Recovery – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.la.apps.idranktheseawater&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  70. Days Without Incidents – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=codingale.cr.dwi&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  71. Shatter the Silence – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nicusa.msi.dmh&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  72. Hope by CAMH. CAMH. https://www.camh.ca/hopebycamhapp. Accessed 30 Nov 2021

  73. Be Safe - Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.au.keepcalm.keepsafe&hl=en&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  74. Operation Life – Apps on Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=operationlife.dva.com.operationlife&hl=en_CA&gl=US. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

  75. ReMinder Suicide Safety Plan on the App Store. https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/reminder-suicide-safety-plan/id1407116715. Accessed 16 Jan 2022

Download references

Acknowledgment

This research was undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the Canada Research Chairs Program. We acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through the Discovery Grant.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Jaisheen Reen, Aniefiok Friday & Rita Orji

Authors
  1. Jaisheen Reen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aniefiok Friday
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rita Orji
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jaisheen Reen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

    Dr. Nilufar Baghaei

  2. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Julita Vassileva

  3. Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar

    Raian Ali

  4. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Kiemute Oyibo

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Reen, J., Friday, A., Orji, R. (2022). Saving Life and Keeping Privacy: A Study on Mobile Apps for Suicide Prevention and Privacy Policies. In: Baghaei, N., Vassileva, J., Ali, R., Oyibo, K. (eds) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13213. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98438-0_15

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98438-0_15

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-98437-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-98438-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

search

Navigation