A systematic review of reviews on the advantages of mHealth utilization in mental health services: A viable option for large populations in low-resource settings

Abstract

Global mental health services face challenges such as stigma and a shortage of trained professionals, particularly in low-and middle-income countries, which hinder access to high-quality care. Mobile health interventions, commonly referred to as mHealth, have shown to have the capacity to confront and solve most of the challenges within mental health services. This paper conducted a comprehensive investigation in 2024 to identify all review studies published between 2000 and 2024 that investigate the advantages of mHealth in mental health services. The databases searched included PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane and ProQuest. The quality of the final papers was assessed and a thematic analysis was performed to categorize the obtained data. 11 papers were selected as final studies. The final studies were considered to be of good quality. The risk of bias within the final studies was shown to be in a convincing level. The main advantages of mHealth interventions were categorized into four major themes: 'accessibility, convenience and adaptability', 'patient-centeredness', 'data insights' and 'efficiency and effectiveness'. The findings of the study suggested that mHealth interventions can be a viable and promising option for delivering mental health services to large and diverse populations, particularly in vulnerable groups and low-resource settings. Impact statementThe findings of the study can be utilized by future researchers, policymakers and healthcare administrators from diverse socioeconomic and geographical backgrounds providing them a more detailed insight regarding the advantages of utilizing mHealth in mental health services in diverse settings.