Juggling Doctor and Patient Needs in Mental Health Record Design

Providing patients access to mental health records is a controversial topic that gains growing attention in research and practice. While it has great potential in increasing the patient engagement, skepticism is prevailing among therapists who fear detrimental effects and face a lack of feasibility when treatment notes are handwritten. We aim at empowering both therapists to new documentation approaches and patients to higher engagement, and develop the collaborative documentation system Tele-Board MED (TBM) as an adjunct to talk-based mental health interventions. We present an evaluation of TBM by comparing four prototypes and testing scenarios, reaching from early simulations to attempts of real-life implementations in clinical routines. This paper delivers a systematic need comparison of therapists as primary users and patients as secondary users, both during and beyond treatment sessions. While patient feedback is thoroughly positive, the therapist needs are only partially addressed; the benefits remain hidden behind the perceived effort.