Mental health app crisis support assessment framework: development and pilot testing
The paper introduces the Mental Health App Crisis Support Assessment Framework (MHACSAF), a 65-point instrument with an eligibility screen and seven scored dimensions grounded in WHO suicide-prevention guidance and safety-planning practice, and applies it to six commercial AI-powered mental health apps (Wysa, Youper, Flourish, Earkick, Replika and Ash). Three licensed clinical psychologists rated the iOS versions between December 2025 and January 2026.
Publisher
Frontiers in Digital Health (Frontiers); National Technical University 'Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute'; Elomia Health
Published
10 Jun 2026
Added
today
Key Findings
- No app reached a 'Good' or 'Excellent' rating; mean total scores ranged from 13.0 to 40.3 of 65 (M=24.9, SD=9.3)
- Crisis resources were frequently buried behind conversational interfaces, and several apps delegated safety-critical information to external websites with broken or inaccessible links
- Technical accessibility for users with disabilities was nearly absent across products
- Wysa scored highest but still had gaps in accessibility, localization and offline functionality
- Inter-rater reliability was high (Fleiss' kappa 0.87; ICC(2,1) 0.94)
Methodology Notes
Six apps, iOS only, one evaluation window (December 2025-January 2026; month precision). Dimensions: ease of access, coverage and prioritization, hotlines and emergency services, content clarity, technical accessibility, localization, awareness. Both authors are employed by Elomia Health, a mental-health app company; the authors state none of the evaluated apps is developed or marketed by Elomia. Received 2026-02-20, accepted 2026-05-12, published 2026-06-10.
Sources
Frontiers in Digital Health article(opens in a new tab) (primary)
PubMed record(opens in a new tab)
Archived snapshot (Wayback Machine)(opens in a new tab) — preserved against link rot
Authors
Anastasiia Knysh, Taras Pohrebniak
Tags
Cite This
APA
Anastasiia Knysh, Taras Pohrebniak. (2026). Mental health app crisis support assessment framework: development and pilot testing. Frontiers in Digital Health (Frontiers); National Technical University 'Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute'; Elomia Health. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2026.1814547/full