Development of a Smartphone Application for Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management: An Examination of the Effectiveness on Workers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a smartphone application for stress management that facilitated the implementation of suitable coping strategies for each stressor and improved sleep quality through automated individualized feedback based on users’ data input, and to examine its effectiveness on workers. The effectiveness of the application was evaluated by pre- and post-intervention comparisons of the coping repertoire, sleep quality, and psychological stress response in three groups (application, worksheets, and individual interviewing). After analyzing 63 workers’ data, no significant differences in the coping repertoire and psychological stress response between the application group and the two other groups were found. However, there was a significant improvement in sleep quality in the individual interviewing group. The findings suggest that there is still room for improvement in the developed smartphone application, and future directions are discussed.