The Complexity of Mental Health App Privacy Policies: A Potential Barrier to Privacy

Powell, Adam C.; Singh, Preeti; Torous, John

doi:10.2196/mhealth.9871

Cited by 51 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Altogether, the experiences of users can help in establishing cultures of values in Telemental and digital healthcare, consequently reducing the complexity surrounding private policy in the era of digital medicine. Realizing the vertical arrangement of society may help in dealing with the challenges that digital health brings, as others have mentioned the ethical dimensions to be the challenges of the future (Powell, Singh & Torous, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Mental Health in Ireland: Effectiveness and the Future of the Service

Bamijoko-Okungbaye

Idemudia

2020

BRAIN

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Purpose: Mental disorders are serious concern in our society. In the era of digital technology , Telemental health and mental health apps are becoming an avenue where people seek mental health support, but in general very little is known about the effectiveness of the service considering the complexities surrounding mental disorder as a disease. In the light of COVID-19 pandemic, researchers noticed a spike in anxiety levels amongst the populace, prompting more people to use the service. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the users of the service to check the effectiveness, the cost of the service, and to ask whether users will opt for the service in the future. Design and Methods: Three major questions were asked to adult participants (ages 18-35 years; n=50). Female participants(n-25) and Male participants(n-25).Within the semi-structured interviews, participants were also allowed to share their lived experiences to enhance this study. The questions are as follows: 1. The effectiveness of the service in terms of recovery 2. The cost of service 3. The question about the future use of the service. Differences in groups and research variables were compared across the demographics. To measure psycho-pathology, PHQ-9, GAD-7, SAQ, Insomnia Severity Index and ASI-Lite were used to evaluate the conditions and description of the participants. This evaluation is employed to validate the patient's threshold for Telemental health intervention. Results: The people that are more likely to use the service in the future were female (85%) than their male counterpart (64%), but the groups are similar concerning the effectiveness of the service. When controlled for gender, male (85%) and female (80%) were more satisfied with the service they receive and record a positive outlook of their conditions. Compared with first-time users of the service, regular users mention service providers as key to their recovery. Participants (18-35 years, n-50) describe depression, anxiety, addictions and insomnia as the reason for the use of the service, issues responsive to neuropsychotherapeutical and cognitive behavioural therapy. About the cost, the participants (68%) seem to be satisfied with the cost while (32%) would prefer cost reduction. (Mean age-25.96 years) and (s.d-5.32). Implications: This data shows the effectiveness of Telemental health service. If expanded on a larger scale, it can take the pressure off the traditional mental health care system in Ireland, giving the practitioners time to focus on severe mental conditions. However, variables in the contextual description of patient's experiences will require value-based treatment where individual factors (bio-psycho-social analysis) are needed to be incorporated into the treatment. Besides, the data also reveals that continuous destigmatization of mental disorders will encourage men to opt for the service if societal judgment diminishes. Translating this data to the global data on mental disorders means that those regions, including rural areas without mental health support,...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Mental Health in Ireland: Effectiveness and the Future of the Service

Bamijoko-Okungbaye

Idemudia

2020

BRAIN

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“…7 Some of the papers are included in multiple categories due to an overlap in contributions 8 4 of those papers (4/37) were defined as models Next, we discuss the health conditions covered in the included papers, followed by the privacy and security regulations that they refer to. [6], [8], [17], [22], [23], [27], [41], [51]- [68] General focus (n=18) [2], [21], [24] [3], [4], [12], [76], [80], [81], [92], [96]- [110] S/P focused design features and recommendations (n=16) [7], [25], [28], [51], [54], [57], [59], [66], [93]- [95], [111]- [114] 1) Target health conditions…”

Section: Iv1 Study Selection and Data Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the generation of large amounts of new personal patient data increases the significance and severity of security and privacy risks. Vulnerabilities regarding privacy and security may result in breaching the confidentiality of consumers' data [6], which can lead to financial losses, discrimination, stress, dissatisfaction [23], or even delays in seeking effective treatment due to perceived privacy risks [24], [25]. The current situation is alarming, as recent studies report on privacy violations being a common occurrence with health and wellbeing (HWB) applications [26], [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Security and Privacy of mHealth Applications: A Scoping Review

2020

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While digital health or mHealth applications (apps) have become accessible resources for the support of personal health, the privacy and security of users' data have been the subject of concern and controversy. As large numbers of mHealth apps are created and are increasingly widely used by people with various health conditions, it is crucial to have clear and valid methods for evaluating the data practices within them. Recent regulatory initiatives such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) have had the effect of raising awareness and establishing a minimal set of expectations. However, they do not in themselves address the issue of the development of systems which meet privacy and security requirements. There is a growing body of research on evaluation techniques and frameworks to support the assessment of the privacy and security of health apps, and guidelines to support their design. However, it can be challenging to navigate this space and choose appropriate techniques for a given context. Addressing this issue, this paper examines the recent literature on security and privacy of m-Health applications, using a scoping review methodology. It analyses data security and privacy evaluation techniques and frameworks that have been proposed for mHealth applications, as well as relevant research-based design recommendations. This work consolidates recent research on the topic to support researchers, app designers, end users, and healthcare professionals in designing, evaluating, recommending and adopting mHealth applications.

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“…Although Article 12 of the GDPR requires that companies explain how data will be processed in a "concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language" [18], most mHealth app privacy policies studied have been found to be roughly the length of an academic journal article and have a readability at university level [107,113,117], making them inaccessible to a large percentage of consumers and posing a risk for inequity between the highly-educated who are able to comprehend their privacy rights and options and the rest of the population. Users often agree on the assumption of minimal risk, as reading dense policies is onerous and time-consuming [118][119][120].…”

Section: Informed Consent Privacy Policies and Access Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developments in Privacy and Data Ownership in Mobile Health Technologies, 2016-2019

Galvin

DeMuro²

2020

Yearb Med Inform

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Objectives: To survey international regulatory frameworks that serve to protect privacy of personal data as a human right as well as to review the literature regarding privacy protections and data ownership in mobile health (mHealth) technologies between January 1, 2016 and June 1, 2019 in order to identify common themes. Methods: We performed a review of relevant literature available in English published between January 1, 2016 and June 1, 2019 from databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science, as well as relevant legislative background material. Articles out of scope (as detailed below) were eliminated. We categorized the remaining pool of articles and discrete themes were identified, specifically: concerns around data transmission and storage, including data ownership and the ability to re-identify previously de-identified data; issues with user consent (including the availability of appropriate privacy policies) and access control; and the changing culture and variable global attitudes toward privacy of health data. Results: Recent literature demonstrates that the security of mHealth data storage and transmission remains of wide concern, and aggregated data that were previously considered “de-identified” have now been demonstrated to be re-identifiable. Consumer-informed consent may be lacking with regard to mHealth applications due to the absence of a privacy policy and/or to text that is too complex and lengthy for most users to comprehend. The literature surveyed emphasizes improved access control strategies. This survey also illustrates a wide variety of global user perceptions regarding health data privacy. Conclusion: The international regulatory framework that serves to protect privacy of personal data as a human right is diverse. Given the challenges legislators face to keep up with rapidly advancing technology, we introduce the concept of a “healthcare fiduciary” to serve the best interest of data subjects in the current environment.

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The Complexity of Mental Health App Privacy Policies: A Potential Barrier to Privacy

Cited by 51 publications

References 20 publications

Digital Mental Health in Ireland: Effectiveness and the Future of the Service

Digital Mental Health in Ireland: Effectiveness and the Future of the Service

Security and Privacy of mHealth Applications: A Scoping Review

Developments in Privacy and Data Ownership in Mobile Health Technologies, 2016-2019

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