Usability and feasibility of a cognitive-behavioral mobile app for ADHD in adults

Laura E Knouse; Xiaodi Hu; George Sachs; Sebastian Isaacs

doi:10.1371/journal.pdig.0000083

Usability and feasibility of a cognitive-behavioral mobile app for ADHD in adults

PLOS Digit Health. 2022 Aug 15;1(8):e0000083. doi: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000083. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Authors

Laura E Knouse¹, Xiaodi Hu^{1

2}, George Sachs³, Sebastian Isaacs³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America.
² Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction Program, College of Information Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America.
³ Get Inflow, LTD, London, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Objective: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has growing evidence of efficacy for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adults. Mobile health apps are promising tools for delivering scalable CBT. In a 7-week open study of Inflow, a CBT-based mobile app, we assessed usability and feasibility to prepare for a randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Method: 240 adults recruited online completed baseline and usability assessments at 2 (n = 114), 4 (n = 97) and after 7 weeks (n = 95) of Inflow use. 93 participants self-reported ADHD symptoms and impairment at baseline and 7 weeks.

Results: Participants rated Inflow's usability favorably, used the app a median of 3.86 times per week, and a majority of those using the app for 7 weeks self-reported decreases in ADHD symptoms and impairment.

Conclusion: Inflow demonstrated usability and feasibility among users. An RCT will determine whether Inflow is associated with improvement among more rigorously assessed users and beyond non-specific factors.

Copyright: © 2022 Knouse et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Grants and funding

LK was supported by a University of Richmond School of Arts and Sciences Faculty Summer Research Fellowship during the completion of this work. This funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. GS and SI are co-founders of Inflow, the company that developed the app tested in this study, and they were supported by the company during their work on this project, which included collaboration on study design, data collection, and preparation of the manuscript. The company provided free access to the app for participants as part of the study. XH started a paid internship position with Inflow as a User Experience (UX) Research Intern on 13 June 2022 after the study was conducted and just prior to publication. All parties agreed to pursue publication of pre-registered analyses regardless of study outcome.