Everyone feels anxious or stressed out at times, but people can often overlook their overall mental health. Some UNC grad students think this is especially the case for African Americans.
Technology has become a necessity for many people today, and the App Store is flooded with resources that can help or improve someone's life. Henry Willis, fourth-year doctoral candidate of psychology and neuroscience in the clinical psychology program, is leading the development of a mental health app that will target African-American young adults. He believes African Americans' mental health is important but is often overlooked.
“The reason I'm targeting toward young Black adults is mostly because this is one of the groups within African Americans that are less likely to receive access to effective mental health treatment,” Willis said. “And it's also the time period where just a lot of negative mental health symptoms start or get worse for a lot of people.”
This mental health app will cover a broad scope of things, but it is currently in the development stage. The first version will be on a website, but it will function like the final product, which will be a mobile app. Once they have enough data, Willis and the people helping him develop the app plan to do a pilot test and then export it to the Apple Store.
Since many apps and other products on the market aim to help people improve aspects of their lives, including weight management apps, Fitbits and Apple Watches, Willis thought a mental health app for Black people could be useful to many people who may not have thought about their mental health before. Within the app, Willis hopes to help people get a basic understanding of mental health and some of the things they can do to cope with negative mental health symptoms.
Angelica Villanueva, senior research assistant and psychology and global studies major, works alongside Willis to develop the app. They have done qualitative research and background research into apps to assure they’re making their best product for consumers.
“I heard the idea, and I had to jump on it because it was just like it literally combined my psych major and my entrepreneurship minor, and I just love the idea of it,” Villanueva said. “It could potentially expand to into further populations and really bridge the treatment gap that there is for minority groups.”
Villanueva said she likes that she is a part of an innovative idea that will help many people in the future. The skills she has learned while working with Willis will also transfer to her career plans, she said.
Currently, they are coding the information they gathered from focus groups and hope to launch in the near future.
