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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health

Date Submitted: May 30, 2019
Open Peer Review Period: May 31, 2019 - Jul 24, 2019
Date Accepted: Oct 9, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Moderated Online Social Therapy: Viewpoint on the Ethics and Design Principles of a Web-Based Therapy System

D'Alfonso S, Phillips J, Valentine L, Gleeson J, Alvarez-Jimenez M

Moderated Online Social Therapy: Viewpoint on the Ethics and Design Principles of a Web-Based Therapy System

JMIR Ment Health 2019;6(12):e14866

DOI: 10.2196/14866

PMID: 31799937

PMCID: 6920904

Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.

Moderated Online Social Therapy: Viewpoint on the Ethics and Design Principles of a Web-Based Therapy System

  • Simon D'Alfonso; 
  • Jessica Phillips; 
  • Lee Valentine; 
  • John Gleeson; 
  • Mario Alvarez-Jimenez

The modern omnipresence of social media and social networking sites (SNSs) brings with it a range of important research questions. One of these concerns the impact of SNS use on mental health and well-being, a question that has been pursued in depth by scholars in the psychological sciences and the field of human-computer interaction. Despite this attention, the design choices made in the development of SNSs and the notion of well-being employed to evaluate such systems require further scrutiny. In this viewpoint paper, we examine the strategic design choices made in our development of an enclosed SNS for young people experiencing mental ill-health in terms of ethical and persuasive design and in terms of how it fosters well-being. In doing so, we critique the understanding of well-being that is used in much of the existing literature to make claims about the impact of a given technology on well-being. We also demonstrate how the holistic concept of eudaimonic well-being and ethical design of SNSs can complement one another.


 Citation

Please cite as:

D'Alfonso S, Phillips J, Valentine L, Gleeson J, Alvarez-Jimenez M

Moderated Online Social Therapy: Viewpoint on the Ethics and Design Principles of a Web-Based Therapy System

JMIR Ment Health 2019;6(12):e14866

DOI: 10.2196/14866

PMID: 31799937

PMCID: 6920904

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