Understanding online support for mental health
In-person and remote focus groups to explore people’s perspectives and experiences of using online mental health support for a UK charity.
Overview
The client wanted to engage with people with poor or ill mental health to involve them in the development of a criteria of available mental health applications that could be used to support an individual’s mental health.
Goal
Engage with people with lived experience to involve them in developing a criteria that could be used to review apps with the aim of directing users to safe, trustworthy and effective applications.
Outcomes
Headline report to feed initial findings into an internal workshop
Full written report that contributed to the digital team’s strategy and development of a criteria that is based on real users experiences of mental health applications.
My role
UX Consultant
Method
In-person and remote focus groups
Tools
Zoom
PowerPoint
Excel
Year
2022
Research
Two remote and one in-person focus group was held with people with lived experience of poor mental health. An in-person focus group was decided on, to enable the inclusion of young adults from radicalised communities, living on minimum wage who have limited access to internet at home.
Prior to the creation of the discussion guide, a team member explained the initial requirements that they had gathered, so that I could go into the research with better understanding.
The sessions lasted 90 minutes each and focused on a range of topics:
General experiences and perceptions of support for mental health in the UK
Perceptions and opinions of mental health applications (such as the reviews and emergency information available on the app)
Discovering opinions on a preliminary set of criteria
Team members observed the focus groups live and were able to ask follow up questions on discussion points of interest.
The report was received positively by the project team and went on to inform the criteria that was developed, as well as inform the charity’s digital strategy.
Key learning and takeaways
For in-person focus groups, try and keep the amount of questions limited to allow time for free-flowing discussion.
For sensitive research topics, explain the research to participants beforehand to reduce any anxiety they may have. Talking to the participants beforehand is also helpful to confirm their availability and suitability.