EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS SUPPORT APP: A DIGITAL INTERVENTION FOR STRESS REDUCTION AND MOOD ENHANCEMENT IN LOW-RESOURCE SETTINGS

Abstract

The paper examines the efficacy of a Mental Health and Wellness Support App that can help to enhance the mental health of individuals by offering stress assessment, mood monitoring, individualized stress coping strategies, and the opportunity to seek professional therapy advice. The application intends to support the expanding mental health problem, especially in low-income countries such as Pakistan, where mental health care is inaccessible, and where cultural taboos about mental health care remain high. The study will also utilize the mixed-methods philosophy, as the quantitative data by stress and mood measurement is supplemented with the qualitative feedback, which will be used to pass a judgement over the app. The findings indicate excellent changes in decreasing stress and ameliorating mood, especially in higher stress groups like Critical stress and Severe stress groups. The study also underlines that the engagement among self-help resources such as mood tracking and stress management tips were high and that the engagement in professional consultation with therapists was low. The use of culturally relevant features, as the Quranic verses to offer emotional relief, was welcomed by the participants in the app as well. Our paper highlights the potential of digital health interventions to enhance mental health outcomes in resource-limited contexts and stresses the importance of augmenting professional support and tailored interventions in digital environments further.