Comment and review two peers’ relaxation app posts and respond with at least two references to support your statements on two different days.
Topic they wrote about:
- Explore apps for your mobile device that can be useful in relaxation therapies.
- Choose one and research the validity for use with patients.
- Summarize your findings.
- How could this be used for patient education in your practice?
Your reply posts should integrate course readings and/or other scholarly work. All references should be in APA format.
Please respond to Danielle
Headspace is a relaxation app which provides guided meditation, courses, and exercises to help users manage stress, reduce anxiety, and release tension (Headspace, 2023; Lyu, 2022). From exploring the app, myself, I found video options for meditation, sleep, moving, and music and further discovered podcasts which accommodated all ages. There was even a podcast titled Elmo to the Moon aimed to help children feel calm, balanced, and rested. Over 70 million people from more than 190 countries use Headspace in efforts to care for their own mental health (Lyu, 2022). One study actually sought to examine the feasibility and acceptability of using the meditation app to improve sleep among adult users (Johnson, et al., 2022). Through qualitative study, data was collected from discussion boards in efforts to understand user’s experiences with the Headspace app (Johnson, et al., 2022). Information regarding what motivated use of the app and what barriers and facilitators existed were then rapidly analyzed (Johnson, et al., 2022). All participants, from various backgrounds, valued the app and felt that it was very acceptable (Johnson, et al., 2022). They even enjoyed that their experiences could be personalized (Johnson, et al., 2022). It was reported by many that the app helped them to fall asleep quicker and was even greatly used to promote relaxation throughout the day (Johnson, et al., 2022). The main barrier of use seemed to be lack of time, though, nonetheless use of such an app was concluded to be acceptable and feasible (Johnson, et al., 2022). While the app does come at a cost of $12.99 per month or $69.99 per year, its use does appear to be rather effective (Headspace, 2023). It’s reported that nearly 40 studies have been published evaluating the app showing a 19% decrease in anxiety symptoms and 29% decrease in depressive symptoms over 8 weeks, 32% decrease in stress and 11% increase in resilience after 30 days, and 22% increase in focus after 1 session (Headspace, 2023). I think, as someone with a future in pediatrics, the use of an app to help with children’s anxiety, stress, and depression could be very valuable. “Screen-based media is a ubiquitous feature of early childhood, even for young children under 5 years� (Przybylski & Weinstein, 2019). You hear the digital age and the age of screens used to identify this population often. Headspace offers exercises that are even geared towards young children, for example, the Elmo to the Moon podcast previously mentioned. The creator of Sesame Street and Elmo come together to guide children to fall asleep or to reduce stress. While concerns of digital media on children’s emotional well-being have been rising, “research suggests that absolute screen time or exposure itself is not strongly associated with adverse mental health outcomes� (Torous, et al., 2021, p. 320). The quality of how screen time is utilized is more important than the quantity and this app offers a more effective use of digital media and could help parents to understand alternative ways to protect their child’s mental health (Torous, et al., 2021). In my future practice, I will guide parents through the app so they can see first-hand what the app offers. I will use the app to provide examples of how parents can deescalate stressful moments or wind down for bedtime. The app could even be used by parents when feeling overwhelmed or overstimulated. Many individuals may not be willing to see a therapist, so an app like Headspace may be just what some patients need.
please respond to Vicki
An app that I found with an excellent interface and usability was Headspace. It allows you a 14-day free trial and then is $12/month or $70/year. Each day the application provides you with exercises for mindfulness and meditation, an afternoon music therapy session, and a podcast to help promote sleep. Studies using this app have been done to assess its effectiveness on reducing stress in healthcare workers after the COVID-19 pandemic (Taylor et al., 2022). Mindfulness-based applications have become more popular in the last few years due to its accessibility and cost. The Headspace app has been integrated into more studies to assess its effectiveness with different patient populations.
One such population that was studied was patients with intermittent or persistent sub-acute pain (Watson et al., 2020). Participants were given a code to access the application for free and utilized its mindfulness training during a six-week study period. Through guided mindfulness practice, lasting anywhere from 10 minutes to 60 minutes, most participants noticed an improvement in their pain. Mindfulness allows a person to be aware of their body, emotions, and thoughts, while learning about way to self-regulate these emotions. Mindfulness has also been shown to affect behavioral, cognitive, and emotional flexibility and one’s tolerance for stressful situations (Vitagliano et al., 2023).
These positive effects from mindfulness support its usefulness in patient care. For patients who may be experience high levels of anxiety or stress, encouraging mindfulness practice in a structure way using Headspace would help the patients remember to take time out of their day to be more aware of how they are feeling in that moment. This allows for a more objective view on their own emotions rather than feeding into the building anxiety that would not allow them to rationally process their thoughts and emotions.
References
Taylor, H., Cavanagh, K., Field, A. P., & Strauss, C. (2022). Health care workers’ need for Headspace: Findings from a multisite definitive randomized controlled trial of an unguided digital mindfulness-based self-help app to reduce healthcare worker stress. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 10(8), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.2196/31744
Vitagliano, L. A., Wester, K. L., Jones, C. T., Wyrick, D. L., & Vermeesch, A. L. (2023). Group nature-based mindfulness interventions: Nature-based mindfulness training for college students with anxiety. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(2), 1451-1468. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021451
Watson, N., Demetriou, G., Cole, D., Hassenkamp, A., & Thompson, D. (2020). The effects of mindfulness training on persistent or intermittent sub-acute pain: Using the Headspace application. European Journal of Physiotherapy, 22(5), 253-261. https://doi.org/10.1080/21679169.2019.1598487