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Social Work Tech Notes: Self-Care Apps for Social Workers - Better Living Through Mobility

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by Stephen P. Cummings, MSW, ACSW, LISW

     Self-care is a ubiquitous term. I’m not surprised that it’s become a marketable concept, a product we can purchase and download. On my phone, a range of applications advertise the capacity to help me achieve more “balance” in my life. Apps are promoted to help me be healthier, be clear of mindless clutter, and in general assert that I can “be better.”

    It makes sense. Many of us now rely on technology for our daily routines. The premise of mobile technology is that it’s omnipresent—a part of the ambient landscape of our human environment. It follows that within this new digital landscape, this same digital space would offer ways to engage in self-care.

    If I sound critical of this selling of the self-care concept, I’m not. I welcome it. As I wrote in my Spring 2019 Social Work Tech Notes column, I believe mobile technology has a lot to provide me, but harnessing that technology is imperative, especially when I talk about my self-care. For this column, with a little crowdsourcing help, I’m looking at mobile applications geared toward self-care.

    First, an important qualifying statement: Self-care, as I define it here, is comprised of those acts or engagements that encourage us to strengthen as individuals. That does not mean that we should individually carry all the burden of finding the time after all our productivity is completed. It’s not enough that employers provide optional wellness plans (though it’s a nice gesture). It’s not enough that we be allowed to take five minutes after a busy semester. The institutionalization of self-care, literally allowing all of us to engage in our own way, needs to be standardized.

    For this article, I posted a simple question to Twitter and tagged a number of social work technology-oriented colleagues. The question: Do you use a mobile app for self-care goals? I received a range of answers, which I’ve compiled below.

Mobile Applications That Encourage Meditation

    People responding to my Twitter post offered their testimonies about the benefits of using these applications. I confess my personal struggles with adapting to a meditation app, but please note—I stress “personally.” These applications may work for the people who use them routinely and affirm their benefits. However, I consider these applications appropriate for what they are—a way for a person to be reminded to focus and take some breaths. I’m wary of the depth these apps suggest they are able to go in working with people who may need focused therapeutic care.

Exercise Applications

    A whole genre of mobile applications fits under this category. Among the applications people mentioned are the following:

    Many of these applications connect with each other. If I use one application to collect data, I can opt to share those data with another application. For example, the Apple iPhone features the Health application, which collects my daily motion without requiring a wearable. The Apple Health application allows me to connect with a host of applications that focus on various health topics, including mindfulness apps like Calm and Headspace. This allows Apple Health to be a one-stop hub for my health data.

Playlists

    How far we’ve come from the days of mix tapes on audiotape! Respondents noted using digital playlists for self-care. I have Spotify, one of the earliest music streaming applications, loaded on my laptop. As I write this, I’m listening to the music application’s featured playlist called “LoFi Beats,” a calm playlist that helps me reduce the stress of getting this article written and submitted. Many streaming music providers offer pre-mixed playlists based on the mood or time of day. Apple Music, for example, lists playlists in a category titled “Music for Mood,” with lists like Motivation, Focus, Feel Good, and Chill. Even YouTube, usually considered a video platform, has a facet of the application devoted specifically to music, including ambient and meditative music playback.

Using Everyday Technology To Facilitate Self-Care

    Of course, technology is, at the core, a utility to facilitate our daily lives, including how we engage in our self-care. One respondent noted, “I watch a lot of YouTube and Netflix.”  Streaming content on the major platforms is a self-care step. There’s a lot of good content out there! There’s so much content, and not enough time, given my predicted life expectancy.  After I watched the entirety of the Downton Abbey series, I watched my data streaming capacity breach my Internet Service Provider’s monthly cap. I was billed an additional $10 for 50 extra gigabytes of data. With new streaming platforms available (hello, Disney+), breaking these ISP-instituted caps is the norm for my household.

    While name-brand platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime are well-known, I’ve become a big fan of Kanopy, a streaming platform that is offered through the local public library. Kanopy includes nonfiction content focused on self-care. Kanopy doesn’t require a fee, if your library affiliates with it.

Implications for Social Workers

    How we engage in care for ourselves should be rooted in our interests. The activities we pursue should be positive to our mind and body and fortifying to our physical and mental health. If the routine use of the Calm application meets those criteria for you, that’s great. Having spent some time with a few of the meditation apps listed above, I found my skepticism began to decrease. It takes some harnessing and discipline, but I found myself appreciating the design of these applications. Would these meditation sessions be the only pathway I recommend? No, of course not. What I liked about the meditation apps, regardless of which one I selected, was that I had the sense I was attending a meditation center. Given the discipline and dedication, I could set aside time each day to participate in one of these apps.

    It’s important, then, to also consider what impact this has on the social work profession, especially at the clinical level. What is the efficacy of these applications? What possible risk for harm exists? Recent research suggests positive outcomes when college students used the Calm app. However, in my review of the meditation apps listed above, I thought about the risks involved if, say, a college student experiencing clinical depression sought help through these automated applications. None of these mindfulness applications are substitutes for the kind of clinical practice in which skilled social workers engage.

Stephen P. Cummings, MSW, ACSW, LISW, is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Iowa School of Social Work, where he is the administrator for distance education.

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