Competitive analysis of existing software applications for improving mental health

Abstract

Formulation of the problem. In today's world, the issue of mental health is one of the most urgent. Lack of access to psychological help and support is a serious limitation for many Ukrainians, especially for those who live in remote regions or have limited op-portunities to receive qualified help. In this regard, the development of a mobile application to support mental health becomes an urgent task. Such an application can become an accessible and effective tool for improving the mental state of the Ukrainian population. The aim of the study. Defining the functional requirements for a mobile application to improve mental health and conducting a competitive analysis of existing applications. Defining functional requirements for a mobile application for improving mental health. 1. Bot "personal psychologist" 2. Self-assessment tests 3. Personal diary 4. Articles 5. Contacts of an online psychologist 6. "Psychologists nearby" map 7. Various practices 8. Change and develop useful skills The application can be personalized for each user's needs. Users can choose which features they want and customize them to suit their needs. A competitive analysis of mental health software applications. To carry out the analysis, we selected applications relevant in terms of subject mat-ter and functionality, which are available in Ukraine and abroad, and identified their ad-vantages and disadvantages. The following applications were taken for analysis: 1. Svitlo – Meditations in Ukrainian (Ukraine) 2. Silence - Meditations in Ukrainian (Ukraine) 3. BetterMe: Mental health (Ukraine) 4. VOS – Mental Health Plan (Ukraine) 5. PsychTests (Poland) 6. Happify (USA, New York) 7. My Mood Tracker: Mood Control (Poland) 8. Calm – Sleep, Meditate, Relax (USA) 9. Talkspace Therapy & Counseling (Poland) 10. Youper – CBT Therapy Chatbot (USA, San Francisco) Conclusions. The software applications analyzed in this work have a common goal – to help users maintain or improve their mental health through various methods, such as meditation, psychological tests, planning and keeping a mood diary, psychological support through a chatbot or interactive therapy, as well as games and activities to pro-mote positive thinking. They provide tools for self-improvement and development of posi-tive coping strategies with stress and negative emotions. However, they also have their differences: • Some of them specialize in specific aspects of mental health, such as meditation (Svitlo, Silence, Calm), help with depression (MoodTools), or psychological testing (PsychTests). • Some, like Talkspace and Youper, offer psychological support through a chatbot or other interactive tools. • Some apps, like Happify and BetterMe, focus on improving emotional well-being and psychological development. Among the selected applications, there is none that fully meets the requirements that we set for our application. Only meditative practices are available among the clear solutions. Therefore, the development of such an application will be relevant and useful for Ukrainian society.