Brief presentation for the Edinburgh Mental Health conference that sketches my thoughts on critical, inclusive #ementalhealth design.

1. E-MENTAL HEALTH:
OPPORTUNITIES AND
PITFALLS
MARIA WOLTERS
READER IN DESIGN INFORMATICS
ALAN TURING INSTITUTE FACULTY FELLOW
@MARIAWOLTERS / MARIA.WOLTERS@ED.AC.UK

2. LET‘S BE REALIST
• What technology
• Works for whom (condition, digital literacy, health literacy, post code)
• In what respects
• In what contexts
• How
Asking these questions is useful regardless of whether you use Pawson and Tilley‘s
(1997) Realist Evaluation
Pawson, R. & Tilley, N. (1997). Realistic Evaluation. London: Sage.

3. TRACKING MOOD
• What technology (Experience Sampling Method, IMMERSE EU project,
HiSS/Informatics)
• Works for whom (e.g., people signed off work with mental health issues)
• In what respects (e.g., increased insight into own condition)
• In what contexts (e.g., people who can access and receive therapy on the NHS)
• How (e.g., co-discovery of patterns to be addressed in therapy, joint sense
making)
IMMERSE main study starting end of 2022

4. ONLINE COMMUNITIES
• What technology (e.g., the r/Nepal country subreddit)
• Works for whom (e.g., Nepalese Reddit users with mental health problems)
• In what respects (e.g., helps people feel less alone with their problems)
• In what contexts (e.g., mental health stigma, high expectations)
• How (e.g., informational and emotional support from community)

5. PITFALLS
• What technology – 10% of population can‘t be reached
by apps
• Works – is the emphasis on diagnosis / screening
justified?
• For Whom – depression? Anxiety? Psychosis?
• In what respects – Reduction in incidence? Access to
therapy?
• In what contexts – domestic violence? Gender-critical
parents?
• How – increased insight?
.
… and why I no longer talk about
my mental health on Twitter and would
never email jo@samaritans.org
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/28/suicide-hotline-silicon-valley-privacy-debates-00002617