Practitioner review: Co-design of digital mental health technologies with children and young people

Rhys Bevan Jones; Paul Stallard; Sharifah Shameem Agha; Simon Rice; Aliza Werner-Seidler; Karolina Stasiak; Jason Kahn; Sharon A Simpson; Mario Alvarez-Jimenez; Frances Rice; Rhiannon Evans; Sally Merry

doi:10.1111/jcpp.13258

Practitioner review: Co-design of digital mental health technologies with children and young people

J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2020 Aug;61(8):928-940. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13258. Epub 2020 Jun 22.

Authors

Rhys Bevan Jones^{1

2

3}, Paul Stallard⁴, Sharifah Shameem Agha^{1

2

3}, Simon Rice^{5

6}, Aliza Werner-Seidler⁷, Karolina Stasiak⁸, Jason Kahn⁹, Sharon A Simpson¹⁰, Mario Alvarez-Jimenez^{5

6}, Frances Rice^{1

2}, Rhiannon Evans¹¹, Sally Merry⁸

Affiliations

¹ Division of Psychological Medicine & Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
² National Centre for Mental Health, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
³ Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB, Wales, UK.
⁴ Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
⁵ Orygen, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁶ Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁷ Black Dog Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁸ Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
⁹ Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁰ MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
¹¹ DECIPHer, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.

Abstract

Background: There is increasing interest in digital technologies to help improve children and young people's mental health, and the evidence for the effectiveness for these approaches is rising. However, there is concern regarding levels of user engagement, uptake and adherence. Key guidance regarding digital health interventions stress the importance of early user input in the development, evaluation and implementation of technologies to help ensure they are engaging, feasible, acceptable and potentially effective. Co-design is a process of active involvement of stakeholders, requiring a change from the traditional approaches to intervention development. However, there is a lack of literature to inform the co-design of digital technologies to help child and adolescent mental health.

Methods: We reviewed the literature and practice in the co-design of digital mental health technologies with children and young people. We searched Medline, PsycInfo and Web of Science databases, guidelines, reviews and reference lists, contacted key authors for relevant studies, and extracted key themes on aspects of co-design relevant to practice. We supplemented this with case studies and methods reported by researchers working in the field.

Results: We identified 25 original articles and 30 digital mental health technologies that were designed/developed with children and young people. The themes identified were as follows: principles of co-design (including potential stakeholders and stages of involvement), methods of involving and engaging the range of users, co-designing the prototype and the challenges of co-design.

Conclusions: Co-design involves all relevant stakeholders throughout the life and research cycle of the programme. This review helps to inform practitioners and researchers interested in the development of digital health technologies for children and young people. Future work in this field will need to consider the changing face of technology, methods of engaging with the diversity in the user group, and the evaluation of the co-design process and its impact on the technology.

Keywords: Child; adolescent; co-design; development; digital; e-health; mental health; technologies.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Digital Technology*
Humans
Mental Health*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding