Who are we?
SUPER in digital mental health aims to develop guidelines for entrepreneurs and mental health organizations on how to involve end users and mental health professionals in the (transnational) development, implementation and adaptation of mental health technology.
Joint collaboration
GGz Centraal (NL), Centre for Digital Psychiatry (DK) and Thomas More University of Applied Sciences (BE) collaborate on this project. Both GGz Centraal and Centre for Digital Psychiatry have previously already involved end users in the development of their applications.
Approach
In order to facilitate a broad uptake, the guidelines will not only focus on how to involve end users, but also on transnational implementation of technology. After the development of the joint guidelines, there will be a tandem pilot study. The Dutch Stress Autism Made (SAM) application of GGz Centraal will be adapted and rolled out with the involvement of Danish end users; the Danish application for stress control for youth will be adapted to and implemented in the Netherlands. During and after the project we will frequently communicate on the project progress to all stakeholders.
Why we do this
Over the past decades, mental health has increasingly gained track and importance. Despite the high frequency of mental health issues and increased awareness for the need to seek help, barriers like stigma and long waiting lists still remain, leading to treatment gaps: a lot of people need mental health care, but do not get it. One possible solution is the use of technology: it has the potential to serve hard-to-reach populations and to elaborate the tradition treatments. Despite this potential, technology comes with its challenges regarding adaptation, uptake and adherence, also in the North Sea Region. These aspects can be improved by the involvement of end users in every step of technology development to adapt the technology to its users. With this project we want to improve the level of end user involvement in development, adaptation and implementation of digital mental health solutions.
