Understanding Mental Health App Use Among Community College Students: Web-Based Survey Study

Abstract

Background: Mental health concerns are a significant issue among community college students, who often have less access to resources than traditional university college students. Mobile apps have the potential to increase access to mental health care, but there has been little research investigating factors associated with mental health app use within the community college population.

Objective: This study aimed to understand facilitators of and barriers to mental health app use among community college students.

Methods: A web-based survey was administered to a randomly selected sample of 500 community college students from April 16 to June 30, 2020. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships between the use of mental health apps, perceived stress, perceived need to seek help for mental health concerns, perceived stigma, past use of professional mental health services, privacy concerns, and social influence of other people in using mental health apps.

Results: Of the 500 participants, 106 (21.2%) reported use of mental health apps. Perceived stress, perceived need to seek help, past use of professional services, and social influence were positively associated with mental health app use. Furthermore, the effect of stress was mediated by a perceived need to seek help. Privacy concerns were negatively associated with mental health app use. Stigma, age, and gender did not have a statistically significant effect.

Conclusions: These findings can inform development of new digital interventions and appropriate outreach strategies to engage community college students in using mental health apps.

Keywords: community college; mHealth; mental health; mental health services; mobile apps; privacy; services; stress; structural equation modeling; students.