Research Priorities Identified for Digital Technology in Mental Health Care

CATCH researcher Dr Katherine Easton has been part of a team of mental health experts who have identified the top 10 research priorities for digital technology in mental health care.

Mental health disorders are the single largest source of health-related economic burden worldwide. Digital technology, including the internet, smartphones and wearables, provides the possibility to bridge the treatment gap by offering flexible and tailored approaches to care that are more accessible and less stigmatising than those currently available.

The James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership for digital technology in mental health care was established to identify research priorities that reflect the perspectives and unmet needs of people with experience of mental health problems and use of mental health services, their carers, and health-care practitioners.

The results of the research have been published in a paper, Identifying research priorities for digital technology in mental health care: results of the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership, in The Lancet Psychiatry.

“Research has shown the promise, but also the limitations, of different mental health technologies, including internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for various mental health conditions,” the paper explains.

“To date, the research agenda relating to mental health digital technology has largely been influenced by the research community, technology developers, and health policy makers, with little reference to, or input from, people with mental health problems, their families and carers, or non-academic clinicians. However, to avoid harms, increase benefit and sustain impact, it is important that user needs and priorities drive digital technology development in mental health.”

The top 10 research priorities identified were:

• What are the benefits and risks of delivering mental health care through technology instead of face-to-face, and what impact does the removal of face-to-face human interaction have?
• How do certain mental health conditions affect how people engage with technology?
• How can treatment outcomes be maximized by combining existing treatment options with digital mental health interventions?
• At what point in the care pathway are digital interventions most safe and effective?
• How should apps for mental health be evaluated and endorsed?
• What impacts will the adoption of digital technology in mental health services have on capacity, access to services, waiting times and preferred appointment times?
• Are therapies delivered via digital technology as effective as those delivered face-to-face?
• Can the common elements of therapy that come from person-to-person interactions be maintained with digital technology interventions?
• Do digital health interventions increase reach and access to groups and people less well served by traditional mental health services?
• How can social media be used more effectively to bring people with mental health problems together and help them connect, rather than isolating them in their homes?

The NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) Evaluation, Trials and Studies Co-ordinating Centre will now begin the process of translating these priorities into researchable questions for NIHR research calls.

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