Consumer participation in a youth mental health service

Online therapy has the potential to extend existing faceto-face support for mental health, but designers face challenges such as lack of user engagement. Participatory design could improve outcomes but is difficult to pursue in the mental health context. By working with a researchfocused clinic we have been able to employ participatory design methods over a period of three years to develop and test an online therapy for young people with psychosis. This paper discusses our methods and results in the light of existing design frameworks for youth mental health, and reports experiences which will be useful for other researchers in the field. We have found that participatory approaches are indeed challenging in the mental health context, but can result in technology that is efficacious and acceptable to young people. Author Keywords online social therapy, mental health, participatory design ACM Classification Keywords H5.m. User interfaces (e.g., HCI): Miscellaneous.

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“…This reflects a popular peer-support program already offered at the clinic (Monson and Thurley, 2011).…”

Section: Lessons Learnedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We are fortunate to be working with a researchsupportive clinic which has a culture of consulting with clients in the design of new initiatives (Monson and Thurley, 2011). The clinic services young people aged 15 to 25 in a metropolitan region which includes areas of socioeconomic disadvantage (McGorry et al, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Participatory design of an online therapy for youth mental health

Wadley

Lederman

Gleeson

et al. 2013

Proceedings of the 25th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference: Augmentation, Application, Innovation, Collaboration

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“…We consulted with consumers, caregivers and clinicians throughout the development process, who provided feedback about the design, content (including language used in the tool), format and function of the tool as well as how the tool was used in clinical practice. These groups included The Platform team, Family Peer Support Officers and Youth Mood Clinic staff members from Orygen Youth Health and Youth Advisory Groups, private practitioners and intake workers from headspace Glenroy and Craigieburn. Previous research underpinning the current decision aid also involved these three groups, including both consultation and formal research interviews .…”

Section: Aimmentioning

confidence: 99%

Right choice, right time: Evaluation of an online decision aid for youth depression

Simmons

Elmes

McKenzie

et al. 2016

Health Expectations

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BackgroundAppropriate treatment for youth depression is an important public health priority. Shared decision making has been recommended, yet no decision aids exist to facilitate this.ObjectivesThe main objective of this study was to evaluate an online decision aid for youth depression.DesignAn uncontrolled cohort study with pre‐decision, immediately post‐decision and follow‐up measurements.Setting and ParticipantsYoung people (n=66) aged 12‐25 years with mild, mild‐moderate or moderate‐severe depression were recruited from two enhanced primary care services.InterventionOnline decision aid with evidence communication, preference elicitation and decision support components.Main outcome measuresThe main outcome measures were ability to make a decision; whether the decision was in line with clinical practice guidelines, personal preferences and values; decisional conflict; perceived involvement; satisfaction with decision; adherence; and depression scores at follow‐up.ResultsAfter using the decision aid, clients were more likely to make a decision in line with guideline recommendations (93% vs 70%; P=.004), were more able to make a decision (97% vs 79%; P=.022), had significantly reduced decisional conflict (17.8 points lower (95% CI: 13.3‐22.9 points lower) on the Decisional Conflict Scale (range 0‐100)) and felt involved and satisfied with their decision. At follow‐up, clients had significantly reduced depression symptoms (2.7 points lower (95% CI: 1.3‐4.0 points lower) on the Patient Health Questionnaire nine‐item scale (range 0‐27)) and were adherent to 88% (95% CI: 82%‐94%) of treatment courses.Discussion and ConclusionsA decision aid for youth depression can help ensure evidence‐based, client‐centred care, promoting collaboration in this often difficult to engage population.

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“…In addition to providing a framework to guide the development of new services, these principles may also be used to inform continuous quality improvement, minimum standards for service delivery and reporting guidelines for funders. For example, in relation to the principle of embodying a youth-friendly ethos, a YMH service may develop and enact minimum standards for youth-friendly practice by employing a youth participation coordinator and involving youth participation representatives on a continuous quality improvement committee (Monson & Thurley, 2011;Stavely et al, 2013). The principles could also be recruited to enhance quality improvement by applying each principle at each step of the entire clinical pathway to identify existing strengths and weaknesses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%