NDLI: Assessment of App Store Description and Privacy Policy to Explore Ethical and Safety Concerns Associated with the Use of Mental Health Apps for Depression

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Assessment of App Store Description and Privacy Policy to Explore Ethical and Safety Concerns Associated with the Use of Mental Health Apps for Depression

Content Provider	SAGE Publishing
Author	Singh, Swarndeep Sharma, Pawan Ghimire, Pratistha Shrestha, Roshan Gnanavel, Sundar
Copyright Year	2023
Abstract	Mental Health apps (MH apps) could help address the huge unmet mental health care need of developing countries. This study aimed to explore potential ethical, data safety, and privacy issues associated with using MH apps for depression.Methods:A cross-sectional assessment of the top 50 MH apps (by Google Play store search result ordering) for depression available in India was conducted in November 2021.Results:Most apps were listed under the category of health and fitness (54%). The median number of total and dangerous permissions requested at the time of download was nine and three, respectively. Privacy policy in English was available for 76%. The average length of the privacy policy was 2171 words, and the mean Flesch-Kincaid reading grade level was 12 (much higher than the recommended cut-off of eight). Important features relevant to safeguarding consumer confidentiality, including names of third parties with which user data could be shared (42%), explicit consent before sharing data with third parties (16%), and assurance regarding the collection of de-identifiable data (11%), were missing from the majority of privacy policies.Conclusion:There is an urgent need to improve the accessibility and usability of privacy policies by app developers, with the active involvement of other stakeholders.
Related Links	https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/02537176221142046?download=true
Starting Page	173
Ending Page	178
Page Count	6
ISSN	02537176
Issue Number	2
Volume Number	45
Journal	Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine (SZJ)
e-ISSN	09751564
DOI	10.1177/02537176221142046
Language	English
Publisher	Sage Publications India
Publisher Date	2023-01-14
Publisher Place	New Delhi
Access Restriction	Open
Rights Holder	© 2023 The Author(s)
Subject Keyword	Privacy policy Depression Ethics Data privacy Mobile apps mHealth
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Clinical Psychology Psychiatry and Mental Health

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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