Systematic Literature Review of Co-Producing Digital Mental Health Interventions with Underserved Women

Why is the research needed?

Our project seeks to establish a succinct analysis of how digital mental health interventions are co-produced with underserved women. This will be done by conducting a systematic review of literature, primarily journal articles that offer insights into the design and delivery of digital mental health interventions. Currently, there exists a review of evidence related to the use of co-production methods for designing youth mental health interventions delivered using online offers or digital methods. However, there is a need to understand the use of co-production in designing and delivering digital mental health interventions that particularly focus on underserved women facing multiple and/or intersectional forms of marginalisation. As the NHS moves from analogue to digital interventions and service delivery, there is a need to establish an evidence base that informs inclusive best practices related to digital mental health interventions for underserved women.

What are we doing?

Through this project, we are conducting a systematic literature review that will enable us to understand the effective use of co-producing digital mental health interventions with underserved women. This review will establish a theoretically informed evidence base concerned with real-world application of co-production methods with our population of interest. Our systematic literature review takes a broad view of co-production and frames it as a process that involves the voice of underserved women in designing, delivering, and evaluating digital mental health offers. It also defines underserved and intersectional forms of marginalisation using a multidimensional perspective that includes, but is not limited to factors related to socioeconomic, abilities, and demographic characteristics.

How are we working with communities, services and organisations?

At the moment this systematic review is designed to be conducted as a desk-based academic research project and no collaborations with communities or voluntary sector organisations has been undertaken.

What will the impact and benefits of this research be?

This review will offer evidence on how effective co-production is employed in the creation of digital mental health interventions. This will enable us to think of inclusive practices in real-world settings. As health care service delivery moves to digital solutions, this review will offer a holistic understanding beneficial for researchers and practitioners working on co-producing digital mental health interventions with underserved women. Moreover, it will offer an understanding that will be useful for anyone interested in effective methods of co-producing interventions that prioritise online of digital components with underserved communities.

What do we have planned for knowledge mobilisation and implementation?

At the current stage the knowledge mobilisation and implementation for this project is imagined as an academic output in the form of a journal article submitted to an appropriate journal. The learnings from this review will also be shared in ARC Theme meetings and other appropriate networks. There is potential for this systemic review to inform future funding applications thereby indirectly supporting the implementation of co-production in digital mental health interventions for underserved women.

Related papers, outputs and resources

Outputs will be added when available