Table 4. Themes identified across domainsa.
| Technology acceptance model components and subtheme | Sample quote | Participants mentioning related subtheme, n (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Perceived ease of use | ||
| Look and feel | “I think the colors and the fonts are good ... they’re really big ... And I like how it has like characters in it” [Transfer student] | 16 (80) |
| Look and feel | “I think it was easy to navigate in general because you can just go on the menu, and then you can find exactly what you’re looking for” [Transfer student] | 11 (55) |
| Look and feel | “I think it’s a fun app, it definitely feels like it could make an impact” [Transfer student]. | 2 (10) |
| Perceived accessibility | “If I don’t have like a like a social support system that I can rely on at that moment, and if I feel like I need to somehow reframe my thoughts or ... just ease the mind a bit from like the negative stuff that’s going on in my mind, I will use it personally” [Community college student]. | 1 (5) |
| Perceived accessibility | “I would use the [BRITE app] because it’ll be more accessible and since I already carry my phone on a daily basis, I could use it while waiting for transportation, a class gap ...” [Transfer student]. | 6 (30) |
| Perceived usefulness | ||
| Tool use in moments of distress | “Maybe just when I’m feeling down ... I can just go back to the app ... Also the stuff like breathing, sleeping, and exercising ... maybe it will just remind me to these things and to distress from everything” [Transfer student] | 3 (15) |
| Tool use in moments of distress | “When I want to release my stress ... my emotions ... I want to tell someone how I feel ... no one wants to just look at a [digital tool] like when they’re sad” [Community college student]. | 6 (30) |
| Tool use in moments of distress | “I think we believe that going to therapy is more than enough, but maybe this could be an additional tool to therapy ... You know, therapist aren’t available 24 hours a day ... so this would be a helpful tool in those times” [Transfer student]. | 1 (5) |
| Interactive components | “I think about the distress rating thing ... it’s hard to quantify. If there were other ways expressing the emoticons ... or a number or a short sentence that can put into categories to understand the displayed emotions” [Transfer student]. | 7 (35) |
| Interactive components | “I would definitely say ... It sounds like it would be helpful. Like I think the section where you can upload images and things that are important to you. I thought that it would be pretty useful” [Community college student, female, 25 years]. | 3 (15) |
| Interactive components | “Me personally, like I’m someone who uses my phone on dark mode, so to incorporate that it would be a big thing” [Community college student]. | 2 (10) |
a
Perspectives were included from a small number of participants (eg, 1 or 2), when they offered a unique perspective that added to the conceptualization of the overall theme.