Design Mapping: A Conceptual Framework for Co-Designing Evidence-Based Digital Mental Health Programs

There is currently limited guidance on how to codesign digital mental health programs in collaboration with end-users. As a result, common barriers often prevent codesign initiatives from achieving their full potential in enhancing the effectiveness of digital mental health supports. These barriers include the exclusion of end-users from the early stages of design, a lack of attention to diversity in user experiences and needs, failure to use tools that facilitate creative and egalitarian collaboration, and prioritisation of usability over robust research methods. To address this gap, this article aims to present a novel conceptual framework, called 'Design Mapping', for developing digital mental health programs.

The Design Mapping framework was developed through a three-stage process. First, industry experts were consulted, and a review of relevant literature was conducted to identify current best practices for user collaboration in product/service development. Second, the initial conceptual development framework was created, drawing on the strengths of different approaches. Third, the framework was applied to develop a novel early childhood parenting program (called 'Active Play'), enabling the approach to be tested and refined.

Design Mapping is a three-phase framework that integrates tools from Design Thinking that emphasise meaningful and creative user collaboration, within a robust and systematic methodology inspired by Intervention Mapping. The framework also considers factors pertinent when developing both mental health and digital support programs. Preliminary findings from pilot testing of the Active Play program suggest that Design Thinking may support the development of programs that are feasible, effective and engaging.

Design Mapping offers a novel conceptual codesign methodology for developing robust, evidence-based support programs that are responsive to diverse user needs and preferences. The next step is to evaluate its effectiveness in comparison to existing methodologies.

This article presents Design Mapping, a novel conceptual framework that offers a systematic approach to developing evidence-based digital mental health programs, emphasising meaningful and creative collaboration with end-users throughout. The primary aim of this article is to explore and address current limitations in codesign practices in the healthcare industry, consider best practice for user collaboration in the development of digital mental health programs, and provide clear and pragmatic descriptions of suggested methods, with sufficient detail to support real-world utilisation. The Design Mapping framework was conceptualised, tested and refined via the development of a novel early-childhood parenting support smartphone-app, called 'Daily Growth' (Figure 2). End-users were involved throughout the development of Daily Growth, from initial program inception through to prototype testing and refinement. This article presents an overview of the development of Daily Growth to illustrate the application of Design Mapping, with other publications providing an in-depth account of the methodology.