Integrating Smartphone Technology at the Time of Discharge from a Child and Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatry Unit

摘要

Objective: As smartphone technology becomes an increasingly important part of youth mental health, there has beenlittle to no examination of how to effectively integrate smartphone-based safety planning with inpatient care. Our studysought to examine whether or not we could effectively integrate smartphone-based safety planning into the dischargeprocess on a child and adolescent inpatient psychiatry unit. Method: Staff members completed a survey to determinethe extent of smartphone ownership in a population of admitted child and adolescent inpatients. In addition to quantifyingsmartphone ownership, the survey also tracked whether youth would integrate their previously-established safety plan witha specific safety planning application on their smartphone (Be Safe) at the time of discharge. Results: Sixty-six percent(50/76) of discharged youth owned a smartphone, which is consistent with prior reports of high smartphone ownership inadult psychiatric populations. A minority of youth (18%) downloaded the Be Safe app prior to discharge, with most (68%)suggesting they would download the app after discharge. Notably, all patients who downloaded the app prior to dischargewere on their first admission to a psychiatric inpatient unit. Conclusion: Child and adolescent psychiatric inpatients have aclear interest in smartphone-based safety planning. Our results suggest that integrating smartphone-related interventionsearlier in an admission might improve access before discharge. This highlights the tension between restricting andincorporating smartphone access for child and adolescent inpatients and may inform future study in this area.