Dear Editor-in-Chief
Regarding American Psychiatric Association, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in early childhood. The symptoms of ADHD include inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Such disorders lead to disruption in the educational, social and individual relationships areas and in other life aspects. Studies have highlighted the side effects of medications in the rehabilitation of individuals with ADHD and supported that many of children with ADHD despite pharmacological treatments experience cognitive dysfunctions (1,2). In recent years, growing interests in the use of mobile-Health applications in psychiatric and behavioral domains for delivering health care has combatted these issues. mHealth applications provide one of the best therapeutic strategies to improve the cognitive rehabilitation in the children with ADHD and enhance the quality of their life (3).
The goals of mHealth apps as one of the main subsets of e-health, are behavior change, education and diagnostic evaluations, collecting and reporting data, direct recording of health status, providing electronic decision supports, facilitating communication, planning and scheduling, alleviating the economic burden of diseases, enhancing the quality of health research and generally improving the effectiveness of healthcare services and health outcomes (4). mHealth apps on different platforms such as iOS and Android with low cost or free access, provide attractive and multilingual programs or games to help the children with ADHD in the information and time management, creativity promotion, making informed decisions and doing tasks, improving their relationships and habits such as insomnia. In addition, their capability improves problematic areas such as working memory, attention, concentration, prioritization, impulsivity, organizational skill, social relationship and educational progress in the children with ADHD (5, 6). Table 1 shows mHealth apps in improving the rehabilitation of children with ADHD and highlights their functionality, cost, and operating system. By investigating different mHealth apps about the children with ADHD, we categorized them into “Art Apps”, “Enhance Creativity Apps”, “Focus, Memory, Attention and Less Distraction Apps”, “Manage time Apps”, “Manage Information Apps”, “Sleep Apps”, and “Social Success Apps”. In 2016 the mHealth applications such as 30/30, Priority Matrix, Evernote, Dropbox, MindNode, MotivAider, EpicWin selected as the best apps in the rehabilitation of children with ADHD. The children with ADHD need to improve their relationships and behavior with the environment.
Table 1:
Different mHealth apps in the rehabilitation of children with ADHD
| mHealthApps | Apps Name | Cost | OS | mHealthApps | Apps Name | Cost | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art Apps | Greatest Artists: Jigsaw Puzzle | Free to $4.99 | Android, iOS | Manage time Apps | Todoist | Free to $29 | iOS, Android, iOS |
| How to Make Origam | Free | Android, iOS | Listastic | $2.99 | |||
| Enhance Creativity Apps | Hair Salon: Kids Games | Free | Android, iOS | Coach.me | Free | iOS, Android | |
| SimpleMind | Free to $5.99 | iOS, Android | Finish 2Do | Free $44.99, $2.99 | iOS iOS, Android | ||
| Freedom | Free to $2.42 | Android | TeuxDeux | Free | iOS | ||
| Rescue Time | Free to $9 | Android | EpicWin | $1.99 | iOS | ||
| Focus, memory, attention and Less Distraction Apps | Focus@Will | Free to $8.33 | iOS, Android | Evemote | Free | iOS, Android | |
| 123 Tocken me | Free to $9.99 | iOS | MIN TO GO | 99 cent | iOS | ||
| MotivAider | $1.99 | iOS, Android | Priority Matrix | Free | iOS | ||
| CogniFit Day | Free | iOS | White Noise | $1. 99 | iOS, Android | ||
| Elevate | Free | android, iOS | Sleep Apps | Relax Melodies | Free | iOS, Android | |
| Lumosity | Free | android, iOS | Deep Sleep with Andrew Johnson | $2. 99 | iOS, Android | ||
| Mind Node | 9.99 | iOS | Pzizz Sleep | Free | iOS | ||
| Brain Training: Focus | Free | Android | To Bed | Free | iOS | ||
| Eidetic for Long-Term Memory | Free | iOS | Sleep Bot | Free | iOS | ||
| Fit Brains Trainer | Free | iOS | Sleep Cycle | Free | iOS | ||
| iThoughts for Mind Mapping | 11.99 | iOS | Unstuck | Free | iOS, Android | ||
| Brain Yoga for Relaxing Brain Training | Android, free | Sleep as Android | Free to $2.99 | Android | |||
| Evernote | Free to $24.99 | iOS, Android | Chronos | Free | iOS, Android | ||
| Manage Information Apps | Mint | Free | iOS, Android | Podcast Players | Free to $3.99 | iOS, Android | |
| Google Voice | Free | iOS, Android | How Would You Feel If | $1.99, $3.99 | iOS, Android | ||
| Boomerang for Gmail | free to $4.99 | Android | Social Quest | $21.99 | iOS | ||
| Dropbox | Free to $8.25 | iOS, Android | Social Success Apps | Model Me Going Places | Free | iOS | |
| Manage time Apps | IFTTT (If This Then That) | Free | iOS, Android | Lets Be Social | $19.99 | iOS | |
| 30/30 | Free | iOS | $39.99 | iOS | |||
| Priority Matrix | Free to $8.25 | iOS, Android | The Social Navigator | $4.99 | iOS | ||
| AutoSilent | $2.99 | iOS, Android | Touch and Leam | $1.99 | iOS | ||
| FreakyAlarm | $1.99 | iOS | |||||
| Wake N Shake | $0.99 | iOS |
The interactive nature of mHealth apps along with their capability to be adapted and customized based on individuals’ needs, leads in improving care, promoting rehabilitation and enhancing the quality of life.
Footnotes
Conflict of Interests
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.
References
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