ABSTRACT
Mobile health technology (m-Health) is a fast-growing industry based around the use of mobile apps, wearable sensors, and devices to provide a personalised system of health management through monitoring a range of bodily signals and outputs. The increased adoption of self-tracking devices, apps and wearables has led to some media and web reports of potential psychological downsides of these tracking behaviours. The potential for individuals to misinterpret the physical and bodily data provided by m-Health apps, and as a result possibly experience an increase in health anxiety, may point to the cognitive behavioural theory of health anxiety, which in turn stems from the general cognitive theory of anxiety. There is currently an underexplored gap in understanding the use of m-Health devices and apps by healthy adults, although existing research into internet health searches and mobile phone usage may provide technologically related insights.
