Background: Quarantines and nationwide lockdowns implemented for containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to distress and increase the frequency of anxiety and depression symptoms among the general population. During the nationwide lockdown of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain, we developed and launched a web-based app to promote emotional self-care in the general population and facilitate contact with health care professionals. Objective: This study aimed to describe a web-based app and analyze its utilization pattern throughout 2 successive waves of the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain. Methods: Our web-based app targeted all individuals aged 18 years or more and was designed by adapting the contents of a mobile app for adjuvant treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (ie, the PTSD Coach app) to the general population and the pandemic or lockdown scenario. We retrospectively assessed the utilization pattern of the web-based app using data systematically retrieved from Google Analytics. Data were grouped into 3 time periods, defined using Joinpoint regression analysis of COVID-19 incidence in our area: first wave, between-wave period, and second wave. Results: The resulting web-based app, named gesioemocional.cat, maintains the navigation structure of the PTSD Coach app, with three main modules: tools for emotional self-care, a self-assessment test, and professional resources for on-demand contact. The self-assessment test combines the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale and offers professional contact in the advent of a high level of depression and anxiety; contact is prioritized in accordance with a screening questionnaire administered at the time of obtaining individual consent to be contacted. The tools for emotional self-care can be accessed either on-demand or symptom-driven. The utilization analysis showed a high number of weekly accesses during the first wave. In this period, press releases regarding critical events of the pandemic progression and government decisions on containment measures were followed by a utilization peak, irrespective of the sense (ie, positive or negative) of the information. Positive information pieces (eg, relaxation of containment measures due to a reduction of COVID-19 cases) resulted in a sharp increase in utilization immediately after information release, followed by a successive decline in utilization. The second wave was characterized by a lower and less responsive utilization of the web-based app. Conclusions: mHealth tools may help the general population cope with stressful conditions associated with the pandemic scenario. Future studies shall investigate the effectiveness of these tools among the general population—including individuals without diagnosed mental illnesses—and strategies to reach as many people as possible.

BACKGROUND Quarantines and nationwide lockdowns dictated for containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to distress and increase the frequency of anxiety and depression symptoms among the general population. During the national lockdown of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain, we developed and launched a Web App to promote emotional self-care in the general population and facilitate contact with healthcare professionals. OBJECTIVE To describe the Web App and analyse its utilization pattern throughout two successive waves of the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain. METHODS The Web App targeted all individuals aged 18 years or more and was designed by adapting the contents of a mobile App for adjuvant treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (i.e., the PTSD Coach App) to the general population and the pandemic/lockdown scenario. We retrospectively assessed the utilization pattern of the Web App using data systematically retrieved from Google Analytics. Data were grouped into three time periods, defined using a join point analysis of COVID-19 incidence in our area: first wave, between-wave period, and second wave. RESULTS The resulting Web App, named gesioemocional.cat, maintains the navigation structure of the PTSD Coach App, with three main modules: tools for emotional self-care, a self-assessment test, and professional resources for on-demand contact. The self-assessment test combines the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and offers professional contact in the advent of a high level of depression and anxiety; contact is prioritized according to a screening questionnaire administered at the time of obtaining individual consent to be contacted. The tools for emotional self-care can be accessed either on-demand or symptom-driven. The utilization analysis showed a high number of weekly accesses during the first wave. In this period, press releases regarding critical events of the pandemic progression and government decisions on containment measures were followed by a utilization peak, irrespective of the sense (i.e., positive or negative) of the information. Positive information pieces (e.g., relaxation of containment measures due to a reduction of COVID-19 cases) resulted in a sharp increase in utilization immediately after information release, followed by a successive decline in utilization. The second wave was characterized by a lower and less responsive utilization of the Web App. CONCLUSIONS mHealth tools may help the general population coping with stressful conditions associated with the pandemic scenario. Future studies shall investigate the effectiveness of these tools among the general population―including individuals without diagnosed mental illnesses―and strategies to reach as many people as possible. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable

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BACKGROUND Quarantines and nationwide lockdowns implemented for containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to distress and increase the frequency of anxiety and depression symptoms among the general population. During the nationwide lockdown of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain, we developed and launched a web-based app to promote emotional self-care in the general population and facilitate contact with health care professionals. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to describe a web-based app and analyze its utilization pattern throughout 2 successive waves of the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain. METHODS Our web-based app targeted all individuals aged 18 years or more and was designed by adapting the contents of a mobile app for adjuvant treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (ie, the PTSD Coach app) to the general population and the pandemic or lockdown scenario. We retrospectively assessed the utilization pattern of the web-based app using data systematically retrieved from Google Analytics. Data were grouped into 3 time periods, defined using Joinpoint regression analysis of COVID-19 incidence in our area: first wave, between-wave period, and second wave. RESULTS The resulting web-based app, named gesioemocional.cat, maintains the navigation structure of the PTSD Coach app, with three main modules: tools for emotional self-care, a self-assessment test, and professional resources for on-demand contact. The self-assessment test combines the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale and offers professional contact in the advent of a high level of depression and anxiety; contact is prioritized in accordance with a screening questionnaire administered at the time of obtaining individual consent to be contacted. The tools for emotional self-care can be accessed either on-demand or symptom-driven. The utilization analysis showed a high number of weekly accesses during the first wave. In this period, press releases regarding critical events of the pandemic progression and government decisions on containment measures were followed by a utilization peak, irrespective of the sense (ie, positive or negative) of the information. Positive information pieces (eg, relaxation of containment measures due to a reduction of COVID-19 cases) resulted in a sharp increase in utilization immediately after information release, followed by a successive decline in utilization. The second wave was characterized by a lower and less responsive utilization of the web-based app. CONCLUSIONS mHealth tools may help the general population cope with stressful conditions associated with the pandemic scenario. Future studies shall investigate the effectiveness of these tools among the general population—including individuals without diagnosed mental illnesses—and strategies to reach as many people as possible.

Background: In 1994, the first Spanish study on patients with self-inflicted burns (SIB) was published, showing a prototypical profile of a patient with SIB: adult male, unmarried and, in 75% of the cases, with a psychiatric background. In addition, SIB accounted for 1.98% of the total admissions in a Burns Unit between 1983 and 1991, a lower percentage than other European studies. The present study aims to replicate this work, updating this profile and comparing it with the current profile. Methods: We compared the clinical and socio-demographic characteristics of 67 patients admitted during 1983–1991 (Study I) with those of 36 patients admitted during 2010–2015 (Study II). Results: It was observed that the percentage of patients with SIB admitted to the Burns Unit was lower in Study II than in Study I (1.45% vs. 1.98%). Significant age differences were identified (t₍₁₀₁₎ = −2.074, p = 0.041, 95% CI [−11.739, −0.261]). Similarly, there were statistically significant differences in several clinical characteristics, such as psychiatric history (X² = 11.591, p = 0.001), the occurrence of previous autolytic attempts (X² = 7.714, p = 0.007), the place where the incident occurred (X² = 11.647, p = 0.020), the etiology of the burn (X² = 13.142, p = 0.004), and triggers (X² = 6.420, p = 0.036). Conclusions: Several differences have arisen between the two studies, mainly related to the specific characteristics of SIB (e.g., etiology, triggering cause, and place of the incident), possibly attributable to the social changes that have occurred in the last 20 years. These results will add to our knowledge and will stress various precipitating factors that may lead to SIB, with the final goal of designing preventive strategies.