Integration of app-based interventions into community mental health services: A scoping review
https://doi.org/10.52235/lp.v7i4.994
Keywords:
community mental health services, digital mental health, integrated care, implementation science, mobile applicationsAbstract
Background: Mobile and web-based mental health applications are increasingly incorporated into community services, but implementation depends on clinical workflows, personnel, governance, and cross-sector coordination.
Objective: To map models used to integrate app-based interventions with community mental health services and describe reported implementation outcomes, barriers, facilitators, and implications for service management.
Methods: This scoping review was described using the Joanna Briggs Institute approach and the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. The source review reported searches of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science for publications from January 2020 through July 2026, supplemented by citation searching. Study-level findings were charted and narratively organized. The available study documentation did not establish exact search execution dates, the number of screeners or data charters, or the existence of a registered protocol.
Results: Eight studies were retained without alteration. They addressed shared digital care planning, app-supported psychotherapy, youth service integration, technology-specialist support, remote monitoring, migrant-community partnerships, primary care task sharing, and cross-sector youth care. Three descriptive configurations emerged: clinician-supported blended care, primary care/task sharing, and community or cross-sector partnerships. Feasibility and acceptability findings were generally encouraging but heterogeneous, and most designs did not permit causal conclusions. Five provisional management domains were mapped.
Conclusions: App-based tools appear more implementable when accompanied by defined clinical responsibilities and organizational support. The proposed domains may inform implementation planning, but search-reporting gaps and heterogeneous early-stage evidence preclude claims of superiority, broad effectiveness, or validation of the framework.
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