Integrating UX and evidence-based approaches to design effective youth mental health services
There is a lot at stake when designing services to support youth mental health and wellbeing. To ensure they are safe and effective programs are designed on the basis of research data, past evaluations, health planning frameworks and theories of behaviour change. However in order that such programs are relevant, meaningful and useful to the young people they aim to benefit, they must also take into account the context, experiences and perspectives of those young people. This presentation shares our approach to combining user experience and evidence-based approaches in the design of youth mental health services.
Most design projects require the consideration and alignment of both user goals and business objectives. We have found that integrating user experience and evidence based approaches requires that our tools and process for demonstrating design rationale are more rigorous and transparent than usual.
Drawing on examples from the Inspire Foundation, we will show examples of how traditional UX tools such as personas and user journey maps have been extended to: help researchers determine and communicate mental health status; show which help-seeking tools and strategies would be the most appropriate; and map the connection between user goals, touchpoints and the mental health strategies being applied. We will also share how participatory design techniques were used to both learn about the mental health experiences and perspectives of young people, as well as actively involve them in the design of the service and programs themselves.
Inspire is committed to working in partnership with young people to understand their needs and perspectives on mental health and wellbeing, and to designing and delivering relevant services with those young people. We will draw upon examples from a range of case studies and programs, and share the Innovation Methodologies Framework that was developed as a result of this work to support the Young and Well CRC (a partnership of over 70 innovators, researchers, practitioners and policy makers across Australia) to embed a participatory design approach to the design of all their youth mental health interventions and programs.
For organisations such as Inspire this approach is central to the success of their services and programs. However a participatory and user-led approach can contrast quite significantly with more conventional medical approaches such as randomised clinical trials. In addition to sharing our practical tools and frameworks, we will also reflect on some of the successes and challenges experienced when seeking to extend this approach to more conventional health models.