Designing Technology for Mental Health and Wellbeing

Опубликовано 22 июня 2016, 2:25

Mental health and wellbeing are fundamental to our quality of life, enabling us to be resilient against everyday stresses, work productively, and experience life as meaningful. Mental health has become a major concern for society in recent years due to an increase in the occurrence of mental illness and the devastating effects it has on the individual and economy worldwide. This talk introduces the design process and concept of the Spheres of Wellbeing, a set of hybrid digital-physical objects that were developed to explore the role of technology in promoting the mental health and wellbeing of people with very complex mental health needs. Interactions with the technology were designed to motivate a group of hospitalised women to engage in therapeutic activities that support practices of mindfulness; help them tolerate emotional distress; and strengthen a more positive self-image. Building on this example, the talk discusses current challenges in the field of HCI: for the design of mental health interventions; for identifying sensitive and ethical approaches to involving vulnerable populations in research; and for making sense of peoples’ technology experiences within challenging real-world contexts.