Mental health issues can affect anyone, regardless of age, background or gender. Awareness of mental health is becoming increasingly important as the number of people suffering from a mental health condition also increases.

Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 13^th to 19^th May, and this year focusses on the issue of Body Image. Whilst body image is not in itself a mental health condition, feeling uncomfortable with your body can decrease overall mental wellbeing, possibly leading to mental health concerns developing.

Why is mental health important when thinking about body image?

According to the Mental Health Foundation, “Research has found that higher body dissatisfaction is associated with a poorer quality of life, psychological distress and the risk of unhealthy eating behaviours and eating disorders.” Body image concerns are fairly common, with just over one third of adults saying they have felt anxious (34%) or depressed (35%) because of their body image (Mental Health Foundation, 2019). As such, it is important to increase awareness of how we can take care of the mental wellbeing of ourselves and others in terms of body image.

How can health apps help?

ORCHA has developed an extensive app library, including thousands of mental health apps, so that everyone can easily access the safest, most trustworthy and effective apps for their individual health needs. If you are struggling with body image concerns and feel that this is having a detrimental effect on your mental health, you might find the mental health apps listed below to be of help. These apps have been scored highly by ORCHA, according to Clinical Assurance, Data Privacy and User Experience. You can click on the name of the app to access its ORCHA Review.

‘MeeTwo’ for Stress and Anxiety: MeeTwo allows users to share their personal experiences safely and anonymously in order to access support and advice.

‘DistrACT’ for Self-Harm: distrACT provides easy, quick and discreet access to general health information and advice about self-harm.

‘Jourvie’ for Body Image: Jourvie supports people suffering from eating disorders, giving them a way of filling out food diaries and developing coping strategies.

This Mental Health Awareness Week, #BeBodyKind, to both yourself and others. You can find out more about the Awareness Week via the Mental Health Foundation’s campaign page here.

If you are concerned about your mental health and need help, click this link for resources that can help. You are not alone and help is available.

Image credit: A Research Guide.

ORCHA’s CEO, Liz Ashall-Payne, was recently interviewed by MobiHealthNews, in which she discussed the health app landscape. Speaking about the many unregulated health apps on the market, Liz said:

“It’s quite a fast-changing landscape of regulation and requirements, and so absolutely we have to support the innovators, but equally, once they’re informed of those requirements, they need to step up.”

ORCHA supports app developers in meeting the constantly changing regulations so that their apps can meet the safest and most effective standards. Liz explains that:

“When we’ve reviewed an app, we contact the developer and we provide them with a report that tells them exactly what they need to do to be able to show clinical effectiveness, along with all the other relevant standards that they may potentially not be adhering to.”

By enabling app developers to constantly improve their apps and ensure they are meeting regulatory standards, ORCHA simultaneously allows consumers and health professionals to access the best apps for their individual needs. You can search ORCHA’s App Finder here.

Read Liz’s full interview with MobiHealthNews.

ORCHA recently participated in Digital Health Society’s Online Workshop ‘Connecting the dots in Maternity and Baby Care’. This workshop explored the interoperability aspects of maternity and baby care, including how different organisations are using information standards to improve maternity and baby care treatment.

ORCHA’s presentation outlined the rising popularity of women’s health and pregnancy apps, the increasing number of pregnancy apps, and thus the opportunity for increasing digital health adoption in maternity. There are currently 4,650 women’s health apps, with 3,280 of these pertaining to pregnancy.

In order to overcome some of the barriers to health apps being used in maternity, such awareness, accessibility, trust and governance, ORCHA has become a member of a partnership of 27 NHS organisations across Cheshire and Merseyside. The partnership, called Improving Me, aims to improve the experiences of women and children by supporting the local development of maternity, gynaecology, paediatrics and neonatal services.

Improving Me now has their own ORCHA microsite, allowing women in Cheshire and Merseyside to use ORCHA’s app finder to discover the safest, most effective and trustworthy health apps. The site also showcases the top-rated pregnancy, breastfeeding and sleep apps, amongst many more. As such, ORCHA is working towards interoperability by integrating mHealth into women’s healthcare.

Click here to watch the full Digital Health Society workshop, and take a look at ORCHA’s presentation here.

Mersey Care has added to its range of self help guides with a set of approved apps which present a fantastic opportunity to provide valuable health information which can help improve the quality of healthcare, but also help us to live healthier lives. The market is awash with apps, though, and we have no ability to see whether what is being downloaded will actually improve our health or if our personal data will be stored safely.

For these reasons, senior clinicians at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust have partnered with ORCHA, the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications. Mersey Care’s clinicians believe these apps will be useful for service users and patients.

ORCHA carry out independent and impartial reviews of health and care related apps, and you’ll see that the resultant information is clearly presented for us throughout the website. We can be reassured that any apps shown on this site have undergone a rigorous review process, and can feel confident as we choose the best app for us.

By bringing this information to our fingertips, it’s now possible to identify and compare the best apps for our needs – and to ensure that we, and our friends and families, can get access to quality assured apps that meet a standard that clinicians are comfortable with.

Deputy Medical Director Dr Arun Chidambaram said:

“As a Global Digital Exemplar, Mersey Care is working with partners to develop care that uses technology in the best way for our service users. I’m pleased to see this resource for patients and clinicians. It is to be used with care and in conjunction with professional medical advice and we believe it can offer accessible support across a range of physical and mental health issues.”