Veterans' Attitudes Toward Smartphone App Use for Mental Health Care: Qualitative Study of Rurality and Age Differences.

Background: Mental health smartphone apps provide support, skills, and symptom tracking on demand and come at minimal to no additional cost to patients. Although the Department of Veterans Affairs has established itself as a national leader in the creation of mental health apps, veterans' attitudes regarding the use of these innovations are largely unknown, particularly among rural and aging populations who may benefit from increased access to care.

Objective: The objective of our study was to examine veterans' attitudes toward smartphone apps and to assess whether openness toward this technology varies by age or rurality.

Practical application of opt-out recruitment methods in two health services research studies.

Background: Participant recruitment is an ongoing challenge in health research. Recruitment may be especially difficult for studies of access to health care because, even among those who are in care, people using services least often also may be hardest to contact and recruit. Opt-out recruitment methods (in which potential participants are given the opportunity to decline further contact about the study (opt out) following an initial mailing, and are then contacted directly if they have not opted out within a specified period) can be used for such studies.