Mental Health Smartphone Apps: Development of Two New Apps and Exploration of Mental Health Benefits

Mental health apps are growing in popularity, but many of those available to the public have not been studied to determine if they actually work. In this thesis, the development, launch and evaluation of MoodPrism (a mood-tracking app), and MoodMission (an app that recommends short coping strategies), is reported. The mental wellbeing of people who engaged with the apps increased, and a randomised controlled trial comparing the apps to a control group revealed decreases in depression for MoodMission users and increases in mental wellbeing for MoodMission and MoodPrism users.