JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Medical students show low levels of electronic mental health (e-mental health) literacy. Moreover, they display a high prevalence of common mental illnesses. Mobile health applications (mHealth apps) can be used to maintain and promote medical students´ wellbeing. To date, the potential of mHealth apps among medical students is largely untapped as they seem to lack familiarity with mHealth. Additionally, little is known about medical students’ preferences regarding mHealth apps for mental health promotion. There is a need for guidance on how to promote competence-based learning on mHealth apps in medical education.

Objective:

The aim of this case study was 1) to pilot an innovative concept for an educative workshop following a participatory co-design approach and, 2) to explore medical students’ preferences and ideas for mHealth apps through the design of a hypothetical prototype.

Methods:

We conducted a face-to-face co-design workshop within an elective subject with 26 participants enrolled at a medical school in Germany on five consecutive days in early March 2020. The aim of the workshop was to apply the knowledge acquired from lessons on e-mental health and mHealth app development. Activities during the workshop included group work, plenary discussions, storyboarding, developing personas (prototypical users), and designing prototypes of mHealth apps. The workshop was documented in written and digitalized form with students’ permission.

Results:

Participants’ feedback suggests that the co-design workshop has been well-received. Medical students presented a variety of ideas for the design of mHealth apps. Among the common themes that all groups highlighted in their prototypes were personalization, data safety, and the importance of scientific evaluation.

Conclusions:

Overall, this case study indicates the feasibility and acceptance of a participatory design workshop for medical students. Students made suggestions for the improvement of future workshops (e.g., use of free prototype software, shift to eLearning, more time for group work). Our results can be (and have already been) used as a starting point for future co-design workshops to promote competence-based collaborative learning on digital health topics in medical education.