In patients recovering from depression and anxiety, (P), is there evidence that suggests the effectiveness of using mobile apps (I), compared to in-patient therapy (C), in managing, treatment and reducing (O) the mental health symptoms?

Description of the Clinical Issue of Interest The clinical issue of interest focused on the effectiveness of using mobile apps in the treatment and management of depression and anxiety. The use of digital applications in the management of mental health problems related to depression and anxiety continues to spread (Torous et al., 2019). This is attributed to the growing number of applications available in the apps stores that monitor and manage mental health disorders. Given that mental health causes distress and negative implications to social relationships and physical health, digital evidence-based interventions are available for patients who experience difficulty in accessing appropriate help. Therefore, the digital apps provide mechanisms for easy access to evidence-based interventions (Musiat & Tarrier, 2014). Formulating the PICOT Question When formulating a PICOT question, the following parameters are considered: P; represents what is the population, patient, or problem in question, I represent the intervention (treatment or actions) considered by the question, C represents the comparison of the alternative interventions that can be considered, O details the desired outcomes and objective of the question, while T represents the time it will take for the desired outcome to be achieved. Considering the clinical issue of interest, the PICOT question would be: In patients recovering from depression and anxiety, (P), is there evidence that suggests the effectiveness of using mobile apps (I), compared to in-patient therapy (C), in managing, treatment and reducing (O) the mental health symptoms? With this PICOT question in mind, the search considered databases (Walden Library) and other search sites like google scholar to find information relevant to the question. The research for databases focused on key terms (depression, anxiety, effectiveness, use, mobile apps, in-patient therapy, reducing, treatment, mental health, symptoms) some synonyms and phrases that meant the same things. Searching the PICOT question on the databases, especially google scholar, numerous (about nine thousand) articles focusing on mobile apps, depression, and anxiety popped up on google scholar databases. At first, the search was limited to each element of the PICOT question individually, for instance, searching patients recovering from anxiety and depression, search terms focused on ‘anxiety and depression’, as well as considering ‘mental health symptoms’. The search was narrowed down to the specific requirements of the PICOT by use of Boolean operators incorporating other keywords until more comprehensive and relevant articles were found. The search results were then reviewed to establish if they have the necessary information to answer the PICOT question. Finally, the search results were determined if the best available evidence for the research question. The PICOT question and the researched information determine the study type that would be appropriate either systematic reviews, RCT, cohort study, meta-analysis, among others. As explained by Jensen (2020), the search process can be streamlined to provide evidence for the best clinical decisions and explore alternative procedures and treatments.