Collaborating with youth to inform and develop tools for psychotropic decision making

Area of Science:

• Psychopharmacology
• Health Informatics
• Youth Mental Health

Background:

• Limited availability of youth-focused psychopharmacotherapy decision-making resources.
• Need for accessible and informative tools to support medication choices for young people.
• Current resources do not adequately address the unique needs of youth in psychiatric medication management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline the design process for creating youth-oriented psychopharmacotherapeutic decision-making resources.
• To describe the resulting products, Med Ed and Med Ed Passport.
• To share lessons learned from the development and implementation process.

Main Methods:

• Assembled a project team with psychopharmacology expertise.
• Reviewed best practices for medication educational materials and decision-support tools.
• Engaged key stakeholders, including youth, and retained a graphic designer and plain language consultant.

Main Results:

• Developed Med Ed and Med Ed Passport over six months through an iterative, collaborative process.
• Incorporated literature and youth/stakeholder input into the development of Med Ed materials.
• Created a train-the-trainer program for Med Ed implementation in Ontario, currently in progress.

Conclusions:

• Evidence-informed processes incorporating youth and stakeholder engagement are crucial for developing effective psychopharmacotherapeutic decision-support tools.
• The development fostered reciprocity between the project team and stakeholders.
• Successful resource development requires collaboration and a focus on end-user needs.