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. 2020 Sep 3:6:51.
doi: 10.1186/s40900-020-00219-0. eCollection 2020.

Informing the development of an E-platform for monitoring wellbeing in schools: involving young people in a co-design process

Claire Grant  1 , Emily Widnall  1 , Lauren Cross  1 , Emily Simonoff  1   2 , Johnny Downs  1   2
Affiliations

Informing the development of an E-platform for monitoring wellbeing in schools: involving young people in a co-design process

Claire Grant et al. Res Involv Engagem. .

Abstract
in English, Arabic

Background: The use of new technologies and methodologies in young people's mental health research is needed to allow more frequent and reliable sampling. Mobile applications and e-platforms create exciting potential for the collection of large-scale cohort data, however there are various feasibility and ethical issues to consider. Consultation with young people is needed to inform the research agenda, and ensure these technologies are engaging, useful and safe. This article describes the process of Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) with a sample of young people in London, with the aim of i) informing the development of a mood-monitoring e-platform, and ii) providing feedback and advice for researchers developing web-based technologies in the mental health field.

Methods: A total of 26 young people were consulted across four advisory group co-design sessions. All young people were students enrolled at one of the participating London based sixth form colleges, and voluntarily attended a workshop session. Audio recordings of the sessions were analysed using a thematic analysis framework.

Results: We found that young people were engaged in discussions around mobile health technologies and valued the opportunity to collaborate throughout the early stages of the development process The advisory groups identified key considerations for future web-development work to encourage engagement and prolonged use, including, the promotion of trust and transparency, consideration of accessibility, provision of support, production of engaging and functional design, and acknowledgment of specific contextual influences surrounding young people's wellbeing.

Conclusions: Involving young people in the development process of e-health technologies contributes to optimising the successful adoption and prolonged usage of new methodologies. The thematic map and informant examples can be used to guide researchers interested in developing web-based technologies in the mental health field and will be directly applicable to the development of a mood-monitoring e-platform.

Mental health difficulties are common, impacting on the wellbeing, quality of life and overall health of many individuals. Most adult mental health challenges appear before the age of 18, yet there is still a lack of understanding around the factors influencing their development. Research typically relies on young people to reflect back over long periods, making it difficult to observe small changes in a real time setting. A better understanding of short term changes in symptoms could lead to new insights and inform new treatments. Given that young people are early adopters of new technology, an obvious way forward is to use mobile devices to capture young people’s self-reported mood, wellbeing daily events and experiences as they happen in real-time. Such methods would allow researchers and clinicians to gain a more detailed understanding of daily mood changes as well as how daily experiences can impact on mood and the overall mental health of young people.In order to develop an engaging mobile product that is useful, it is important to involve the end-users (young people) in development, design and testing processes. This involvement is also useful for exploring the ethical and practical concerns of developing mobile health technologies, particularly in the context of young people. This process forms part of a larger research project which explores the possibility of young people using a mobile mood monitoring application within a school setting. This article describes our Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) work with young people, with the aim of i) informing the development of our mood monitoring application, and ii) providing feedback and advice to researchers developing web-based technologies for young people in the mental health field.We found that young people were engaged in discussions around mobile health technologies and valued the opportunity to collaborate throughout the early stages of a development process. Participants actively collaborated through co-design practises and offered insight into design and function expectations and preferences. The advisory groups provided important context to our project, informing us of attitudes towards commercially available wellbeing applications, as well as mental health school-based research more broadly. In addition, young people highlighted key considerations for future web-development work, including, the promotion of trust and transparency, consideration of accessibility, provision of support, production of engaging and functional design, and an understanding of young people’s specific context.

Keywords: Adolescent; Co-design; Mental health; Mobile health; Mood; Patient and public involvement; Smartphones.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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