How to Use MindTools.io
Users
Users and concerned loved ones are invited to identify relevant programs based on the program’s target or intervention orientation. They can then enter program review pages to receive information about the product’s aims, description, and quality rating, and how it can be helpful as a self-help tool or as a supplement to treatment.
What does the product quality score mean?
Using our rating system, each product receives a score between 1 and 5. It is important to note that we are still conducting research on the direct effect of quality scores on a program’s therapeutic potential. Nevertheless, based on the data collected so far, people should not only choose tools they think are well-targeted to their current needs, but also be motivated enough to try them out.
Keeping these aspects in mind, we believe that programs with quality scores between 3.5 and 5 have reasonable potential to help people who find them relevant to their needs. The lower the score, however, the greater the motivation, ability (e.g., energy), and human support (e.g., health technology coach, clinician/researcher who presents the program and motivates the user) required for people to actually benefit from the program. Therefore, even programs with lower scores that fulfill these requirements may be helpful to some users.
Based on our empirical examination to date, we cannot recommend programs with scores lower than 3. For this reason, we do not provide additional information on such programs in our expert evaluation window. Certainly, these programs may still be helpful for certain people, but we believe that there is less chance of them being therapeutically beneficial.
More about our source credibility and privacy explanation ratings can be found here.
Clinicians
First and foremost, MindTools.io is an informational website aimed to provide you, the clinician, with data we believe may be helpful. However, you should always take care to use and examine the tools thoroughly in order to ensure that they are appropriate for your patients.
That being said, there are several steps you should take when gathering information from the website:
- Identify the programs that are relevant to your patients based on the clinical aim, patient group, and intervention orientation.
- Use the quality scores in our expert evaluation window to determine how much motivation/human support is needed for the patient to actually benefit from the program. The lower the score, the more user motivation/human support is required for users to benefit from the program.
- Notice the privacy explanation score which examines the actions taken by the program to enable users to understand how well their privacy is maintained (read more here).
- Read the “notes for clinicians” in order to learn how specific programs may be used to support treatment. Please be aware that the “notes for clinicians” and “qualitative summary” are not provided for those programs that received a score lower than 3 using our formula.
- Read the “health technology coaching” section in our resource center, which contains useful resources (link) on how to help your patients best leverage technology programs.