Best-practices for co-design processes involving people with severe mental illness for eMental health interventions: a qualitative multi-method approach

Stephanie Schouten*, Hanneke Kip, Tessa Dekkers, Jeroen Deenik, Nienke Beerlage - de Jong, Geke D.S. Ludden, Saskia M. Kelders

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

The lack of adoption of eMental Health technologies by people with severe mental illness (SMI) might be explained by a mismatch between technology design and users’ skills, context and preferences. Co-design can optimize this fit, but populations labelled as ‘vulnerable’ are often excluded or misrepresented. The goal of this study is to gain insight into best-practices for co-design with people with SMI. A qualitative, multi-method approach was used, consisting of a systematic scoping review of 21 included studies, 25 co-design expert surveys and six participant interviews. The results delivered 23 best-practices divided into four overarching aspects of co-design, namely: (1) activities to carry out before the start of a co-design study; (2) fruitful collaboration of the co-design team; (3) bespoke approach within co-design to accommodate the skills and abilities of SMI participants; and (4) mitigation of challenges surrounding power balance. The best-practices may help researchers and designers offer the SMI population a more specialized approach for co-design, which can cause the innovative output of eMH projects to be more effective and better adopted. Throughout the co-design process, more attention should be paid to the personal and clinical benefits of participation for the participants themselves.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages29
JournalDesign for Health
Early online date26 Nov 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Nov 2022

Keywords

  • UT-Hybrid-D

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