EDITORIAL

MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES IN MENTAL HEALTH: POTENTIAL AND LIMITS OF DIGITAL SCREENING

TECNOLOGÍAS MÓVILES EN LA SALUD MENTAL: POTENCIAL Y LÍMITES DEL RASTREO DIGITAL

TECNOLOGIAS MÓVEIS NA SAÚDE MENTAL: POTENCIAL E LIMITES DO RASTREIO DIGITAL

https://doi.org/10.31011/reaid-2025-v.99-n.4-art.2669

¹Daniel de Macêdo Rocha

²Breno da Silva Oliveira

³Iara Barbosa Ramos

⁴Muriel Fernanda de Lima

¹Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Coxim, Brazil. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1709-2143

²Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Coxim, Brazil. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0950-2951

³Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Coxim, Brazil. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1608-4336

⁴Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Coxim, Brazil. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9812-659X

Corresponding Author

Daniel de Macêdo Rocha

General Mendes de Moraes, 369, Jardim Novo Mato Grosso, Coxim, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. CEP: 7940000, contact: +55 (16) 99256-0204, E-mail: daniel.macedo@ufms.br.

Submission: 14-10-2025

Approval: 15-10-2025

Technological strategies for the prevention and management of mental health events are widely referenced to identify vulnerable groups, support clinical reasoning, guide decision-making, and ensure appropriate referrals. In this context, mobile technologies stand out for their easy access, wide availability, data storage and sharing capabilities, as well as their potential integration into public health policies for the digital screening of risk conditions and behaviors in the Brazilian population⁽¹⁾.

Mobile health technologies are associated with improvements in communication indicators, risk management, and the enhancement of professional knowledge, skills, and competencies, resulting in greater system efficiency in terms of performance, equity, safety, and effectiveness. These tools facilitate the digital screening of psychosocial conditions by promoting remote monitoring of individual, psychological, social, and environmental markers that contribute to increased risk. Furthermore, their application in different contexts, such as Primary Health Care (PHC) and home care services, is promising for the implementation of mental health public policies in Brazil⁽²⁾.

Primary care and home care devices play a crucial role in managing risk factors and implementing timely interventions for individuals who do not spontaneously access health services due to geographic, social, clinical, or psychological barriers. Social isolation, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and the stigma experienced by patients and families reduce the pursuit of mental health care, limit access to formal health services for adequate assessment and timely intervention, and substantially increase the risk of severe events^(2–3).

Thus, providing mobile, interactive, validated, and accessible tools that enable screening and expand the reach of preventive actions is essential to improving the quality of care across different points of the health network. Moreover, expanding the scope of screening actions beyond the physical limits of health services is a strategic move for the prevention and control of psychosocial risks^(1,4).

Despite the growth in the development of mobile technologies aimed at managing mental health–related conditions, sociotechnical, ethical, and institutional gaps must be systematically considered, as they may pose challenges for digital screening and limit the provision of rapid and effective responses in mental health indicators within the Brazilian population⁽⁵⁾.

The heterogeneity of technological infrastructure in health services and the reliance on internet access and mobile device availability can reduce the performance of these technologies in the public system. Sociotechnical barriers highlight high rates of digital illiteracy among health professionals, evidenced by difficulties in handling mobile devices and resistance to changes in work processes. Additional concerns involve ethical and legal aspects of data storage, privacy, and security, especially when dealing with sensitive conditions such as mental illness in vulnerable populations. It is important to emphasize that mental health events are not static and can be influenced by multiple factors. Even with technological advances, mobile resources for digital screening do not replace anamnesis or specialized clinical assessment⁽⁶⁾.

Although these barriers are evident, offering mobile technologies adapted to population demands and validated for Brazil’s diverse regional contexts demonstrates their relevance, accessibility, and innovation in tracking vulnerability markers and supporting the integration of such tools into public mental health policies. Recognizing the existing gaps within this field enables future developments to ensure usability, transparency, and reproducibility of digital interventions, as well as their effectiveness in referral success rates and the prevention of critical episodes.

REFERENCES

1 Rocha DM, Oliveira AC, Bezerra SMG, Sousa LRM, Alves RS, Oliveira BS, et al. GerenciaVida: Validity Evidence of a Mobile Application for Suicide Behavior Management. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025;22(7):1115. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22071115.

2 Groen G, Jörns-Presentati A, Dessauvagie A, Seedat S, van den Heuvel LL, Suliman S, et al. Development of a Mobile Application for Detection of Adolescent Mental Health Problems and Feasibility Assessment with Primary Health Care Workers. Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2022 Nov;43(11):1046-1055. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2022.2124003.

3 Baek SU, Yoon JH. Prolonged social withdrawal ("hikikomori") and its associations with depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among young adults in Korea: Findings from the 2022 Youth Life Survey. J Affect Disord. 2025 Jul 15;381:514-517. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.04.044.

4 Funderburk JS, Cross WF, West J, Kearney LK, Dollar K, Giannone A, et al. Patient-Centered Suicide Prevention Care Delivery Among Established Integrated Primary Care Providers. Crisis. 2025 Sep;46(5):285-292. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a001011.

5 Comparcini D, Simonetti V, Tomietto M, Pastore F, Totaro M, Ballerini P, et al. The Relationship Between Nurses' Digital Health Literacy and Their Educational Levels, Professional Roles, and Digital Attitudes: A Cluster Analysis Based on a Cross-Sectional Study. J Clin Nurs. 2025 Jul;34(7):2885-2897. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.17484.

6 Mwogosi A, Kibusi S. Unveiling barriers to EHR implementation for effective decision support in tanzanian primary healthcare: Insights from practitioners. Health Informatics J. 2024 Oct-Dec;30(4):14604582241304698. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/14604582241304698.

Funding:

This research did not receive funding.

Authorship Criteria (Author Contributions)

All authors participated in the study design, writing, critical review, and final approval of the published version. Conflict of Interest Statement Nothing to declare.

Scientific Editor: Ítalo Arão Pereira Ribeiro. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0778-1447

Rev Enferm Atual In Derme 2025;99(4): e025142                 

Atribuição CCBY