Digital Mental Health: Co-Designing a Digital Platform to Support Work in Psychiatric Healthcare

Purpose People with severe mental disorders need constant support and monitoring. With the reality of overworked healthcare professionals and long waiting lists, it can happen that patients do not get all the help they need. One of the ways that can contribute to solving that battle is digitalization in mental healthcare. We have designed and developed a digital platform that takes into consideration two perspectives: i) the patients and; ii) the healthcare professionals. In this paper, we focus on the co-design process of that digital platform. Design/methodology/approach This canonical action research paper describes a process of a co-design workshop conducted with 13 healthcare professionals at an Icelandic psychiatric healthcare unit. The source of the empirical data used during the workshop originates from their patients and is stored in the platform. Findings The main contribution of this paper can be summarized through three design principles: i) clarity and information accessibility regarding the patient's side; ii) flexibility when it comes to the healthcare professional's side, and; iii) a communication path between the two. Originality/value We had the rare opportunity to gather healthcare professionals for a workshop and aimed at giving insights into the research question: What design principles can be derived from a codesign process of a digital mental health platform with psychiatric healthcare professionals? The theoretical contribution is conceptualized through three design principles and a discussion on future aspects of digitalization in mental healthcare. The practical contribution is outlined in the changes made in the platform derived from the results from the workshop.