AI Insight
This study demonstrates that traditional user-centered design approaches are insufficient for developing digital mental health tools (DMHTs) that work in complex healthcare settings. The researchers applied a "more-than-human" design framework that considers multiple stakeholders and contextual factors, illustrated through a case study of a tool for New Zealand's mental health practitioners. Their initial design failed because it didn't account for real-world constraints like variable wait times and administrative burdens, leading them to pivot to a practitioner-focused, in-session tool for administering and scoring psychological assessments.
Why it matters
This research addresses why many digital mental health interventions fail to be implemented in clinical practice despite seeming useful in isolation. The framework offers a practical methodology for designers and developers to create healthcare technologies that account for the complexity of real clinical environments, potentially improving adoption rates and effectiveness of digital health tools.
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⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
Digital mental health tools (DMHTs) often fail to be successfully implemented in clinical settings. While user- and human-centred design frameworks are frequently proposed for developing effective tools, they are insufficient to address the sociotechnical complexity of healthcare environments. This paper addresses this limitation by detailing the application of a more-than-human design framework to incorporate wider contextual factors into design decisions. To demonstrate the application of this more-than-human design framework, we present a case study showcasing the design of one specific feature within a DMHT intended to support Health Improvement Practitioners (HIPs) in New Zealand’s Integrated Primary Mental Health and Addictions (IPMHA) service. Our process blends usage-context storyboards with interface prototypes, using think-aloud interviews to test the contextual fit of our prototypes. The initial design concept failed due to contextual factors such as inconsistent wait times and the administrative burden on clients and clinic staff. This led to a pivot to a more context-appropriate, practitioner-focused, in-session concept for digital psychometric administration and automated scoring. This case study demonstrates that for DMHTs to be viable within complex healthcare environments, design must focus on more than the needs of a single user, incorporating multiple stakeholders and contextual variables across the wider service-delivery context.