Developing a Theory of Change for Digital Mental Health

At a time when more people are experiencing mental health concerns than ever before, digital mental health services can potentially reach more people, flexibly, anonymously, and more cost-effectively than traditional approaches. Digital mental health services can also promote better mental health for people who may not otherwise access support – either due to accessibility reasons (e.g., lack of local in-person services) or due to costs (e.g., being unable to afford private mental health services). As more people use digital mental health, however, expectations are raised as to how effective it is, and also how best to meet the needs of vulnerable people and those in crisis.

This project was conducted in collaboration with Togetherall (formerly Big White Wall), a multimodal peer-support DMH community platform providing anonymous, round-the-clock peer support made safe by professionally registered moderators, self-help materials, guided courses, digital art and self-monitoring of psychological symptoms. Togetherall is unique in it’s combination of using basic Artificial Intelligence to help with monitoring of online posts, and the platforms continuous moderation by professionally registered mental health practitioners with referral pathways to local support services, crisis or emergency services.

Building on existing work the team have conducted with Togetherall, in this project we set out to develope a Theory of Change for digital mental health, with a specific focus on understanding the potential benefits that come from peer-support platforms for mental health. We are currently finalising the ToC, which will be used to share evidence around the value of digital mental health platforms with health service commissioners and policy makers, and to support service redesign by Togetherall.

Researchers:

Angus Macbeth

Meigan Thomson

John Vines

Gregor Henderson

Tom Rogers