Determining the impact of mobile-based self-care applications on reducing anxiety in healthcare providers: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Healthcare providers (HCP) face various stressful conditions in hospitals that result in the development of anxiety disorders. However, due to heavy workloads, they often miss the opportunity for self-care. Any effort to diminish this problem improves the quality of Healthcare providers and enhances patient safety. various applications have been developed to empower Healthcare providers and reduce their anxiety, but these applications do not meet all their individual and professional needs. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of mobile-based self-care applications on reducing anxiety in healthcare providers.

METHODS: In this study, keywords such as anxiety, self-care, healthcare providers, and mobile health were used to search PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science for papers published in the recent ten years (2014-2024). We used the PRISMA diagram to report the results. Ten out of 2515 retrieved articles that addressed the effect of mobile-based self-care applications on Healthcare providers' anxiety were included for analysis. Data were extracted using a data collection form designed based on the research objective. We used this form to collect data including the author's name, publication year, country, study type, intervention duration, study objectives, platform used, Modules presented in technologies, Methods of reducing anxiety, questionnaire details, and Effectiveness assessment. Data collected from the studies were analyzed by SPSS-21 using frequency and percentage.

RESULTS: Based on the results, studies were conducted in nine different countries, and the intervention duration and strategies for reducing anxiety using self-care applications ranged from two weeks to four months. The impact of mobile health applications, their content, and intervention strategies on reducing anxiety were positive. The anxiety-reduction strategies were varied among applications. Anxiety reduction strategies in this study included mindfulness, cognitive-behavioral therapy, physical activities, breathing exercises, dietary regimes, and nature exploration through virtual reality. Cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness constituted the most frequently applied reduction techniques across the studies to reduce anxiety in Healthcare providers.Furthermore, the findings revealed the effectiveness of interventions in reducing other mental disorders such as anxiety, stress, depression, drug abuse, and psychotropic drug use of Healthcare providers.

CONCLUSION: The use of mobile health applications with practical strategies is effective in reducing anxiety and can also reduce other anxiety disorders in Healthcare professional.