Co-designing a digital mental health platform, “Momentum”, with young people aged 7–17: A qualitative study

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Ludlow, Kristiana
Russell, Jeremy K
Ryan, Brooke
Brown, Renee L
Joynt, Tamsin
Uhlmann, Laura R
Smith, Genevieve E
Donovan, Caroline
Hides, Leanne
Spence, Susan H
March, Sonja
Cobham, Vanessa E
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2023
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Abstract

Introduction Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) offer a promising alternative or adjunct treatment method to face-to-face treatment, overcoming barriers associated with stigma, access, and cost. This project is embedded in user experience and co-design to enhance the potential acceptability, usability and integration of digital platforms into youth mental health services. Objective To co-design a digital mental health platform that provides self-directed, tailored, and modularised treatment for young people aged 7–17 years experiencing anxiety, depression and other related problems. Methods Sixty-eight participants, aged 7–17 years, engaged in one of 20 co-design workshops. Eight workshops involved children (n  =  26, m  =  9.42 years, sd  =  1.27) and 12 involved adolescents (n  =  42, m  =  14.57 years, sd  =  1.89). Participants engaged in a variety of co-design activities (e.g., designing a website home page and rating self-report assessment features). Workshop transcripts and artefacts (e.g., participants’ drawings) were thematically analysed using Gale et al.'s Framework Method in NVivo. Results Six themes were identified: Interactive; Relatable; Customisable; Intuitive; Inclusive; and Personalised, transparent and trustworthy content. The analysis revealed differences between children's and adolescents’ designs and ideas, supporting the need for two different versions of the platform, with age-appropriate activities, features, terminology, and content. Conclusions This research showcased co-design as a powerful tool to facilitate collaboration with young people in designing DMHIs. Two sets of recommendations were produced: 1) recommendations for the design, functionality, and content of youth DMHIs, supported by child- and adolescent-designed strategies; and 2) recommendations for clinicians and researchers planning to conduct co-design and intervention development research with children and adolescents.

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Digital Health

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9

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© The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

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Health policy

Psychology

Health services and systems

adolescents

anxiety

children

co-design

depression

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Ludlow, K; Russell, JK; Ryan, B; Brown, RL; Joynt, T; Uhlmann, LR; Smith, GE; Donovan, C; Hides, L; Spence, SH; March, S; Cobham, VE, Co-designing a digital mental health platform, “Momentum”, with young people aged 7–17: A qualitative study, Digital Health, 2023, 9

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