Positive psychology mobile applications for increasing happiness and wellbeing - A systematic app store review. R U appy?

Background: The science of positive psychology has produced evidence for many interventions that increase happiness and wellbeing, and reduce anxiety and depression. Thousands of smartphone apps now also purport to do this, but little is known about how many publicly available apps use a positive psychology theoretical framework. For those that cite positive psychology, it is unknown how many have scientific evidence of efficacy.

Objectives: To estimate what proportion of publicly available apps that claim to offer a comprehensive therapeutic treatment for increasing happiness and/or wellbeing, or reducing anxiety and/or depression, use a positive psychology framework, and to determine what percentage of these have published evidence.

Methods: The two major app stores (Apple App Store and Google Play) were systematically searched by four different researchers. Inclusion criteria included: the app store description had to be in English; the description had to mention positive psychology as an influence; and the description had to demonstrate that the app used a comprehensive, therapeutic treatment approach towards increasing happiness and/or wellbeing, or reducing anxiety and/or depression.

Results: Approximately 14.72% (34/231) of apps that offer a comprehensive therapeutic treatment for increasing happiness and/or wellbeing, or reducing anxiety and/or depression, claim to use a positive psychology framework. Of these, 8.82% (3/34) have published evidence for their efficacy.

Conclusions: Future research must consider alternative methodologies for examining the efficacy and effectiveness of apps in order to bolster existing research, and this offers the positive psychology scientific community the opportunity to become a leader in developing these tools.