Characterizing Mental Health Discussions in an Online Diet and Fitness App Community: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Users' Posts

Despite the mutual influence between physical and mental health, few diet and fitness (DF) apps design for the mental health needs of users. To get support, many users turn to in-app communities, which offer a wealth of insight about their needs, yet there has been little research on how users discuss mental health within these communities. We investigated posts within a DF app community in order to characterize discourse around mental health. A qualitative content analysis of 1,604 posts within the most common categories revealed users often discuss their mental health as health journeys and their issues with food as addictions, share their mental health struggles alongside their DF goals, and seek support for challenges that specifically relate to the interaction of their mental health and DF. Specifically, posts largely concern depressive-related, feeding and eating disorder-related, food as addiction-related, and general mental health topics. Our findings indicate that users of DF apps self-disclose when discussing mental health topics, in addition to sharing their diet, exercise, and weight information. Users also tend to discuss mental health as recovery journeys, with an overall focus on narrativizing and contextualizing their experiences and request informational support, although emotional support is also important. This research can be used to better support users through interventions that align with existing behaviors and community norms, including features that enable contextualization, narrative expression, and in-community support.