A Design Thinking Approach for Transnational Adaptation of 2 Mobile Mental Health Apps: Tutorial for Researchers and...

Area of Science:

• Digital mental health
• Human-computer interaction
• Health services research

Background:

• Digital mental health solutions offer significant potential but face user, intervention, and contextual barriers to engagement and uptake.
• User involvement in design, adaptation, and implementation is a proposed solution, yet practical guidance and examples are scarce, especially in international contexts.
• Design thinking, a common business approach, is underutilized for guiding digital mental health development and adaptation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop guidelines for entrepreneurs and mental health organizations on involving end-users and professionals in the transnational development, implementation, and adaptation of mental health technology.
• To describe the design thinking process used to create these guidelines.
• To guide researchers, practitioners, and developers in applying design thinking to digital mental health.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a design thinking process to develop guidelines for user involvement in digital mental health technology.
• Illustrated the process with two case studies of digital mental health solution adaptations in the Netherlands and Denmark.
• Collected learnings and identified key considerations and issues from the pilot adaptations.

Main Results:

• The SUPER project successfully developed guidelines for user participation in digital mental health technology development and adaptation.
• Two international adaptations of digital mental health solutions were executed using the design thinking approach.
• Key considerations and challenges encountered during the design thinking processes were documented.

Conclusions:

• Design thinking provides a structured approach for the transnational development and adaptation of digital mental health solutions.
• User involvement is crucial for enhancing the engagement and uptake of digital mental health technologies.
• The developed guidelines and learnings aim to improve the creation and internationalization of digital mental health tools.