JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Positive emotional wellbeing is associated with healthier lifestyle choices and overall health function while poor mental health is associated with significant economic and psychological cost. Thus, the development of effective interventions that improve emotional well-being are crucial to address the worldwide burden of disease.

Objective:

Develop a web-based emotional well-being intervention, for use by healthcare staff, using participatory design and to consider adherence and engagement from a user perspective.

Methods:

A three staged iterative participatory design process was followed which included multiple stakeholders; researchers, computer scientists, mental health experts and healthcare staff. Stage one, utilized document analyzes, direct observation and welcome interviews. Stage two employed focus group discussions, rapid prototyping and usability tasks. Stage three evaluated a high-fidelity prototype.

Results:

N=38 different healthcare staff participated over a sustained period. A structured, sequential, automated, 12-week, web-based emotional wellbeing intervention, based on Acceptance and commitment therapy was developed. Additional freely navigated psycho-educational resources were included.

Conclusions:

The iterative, and collaborative participatory design process successfully met its objectives, it generated an in-depth understanding of well-being within the workplace and identified barriers to access. The three staged process ensured participants had the opportunity to explore and articulate criteria relevant to their roles over time and to reflect on decisions made at each stage.