Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jun 29, 2024
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 29, 2024 - Aug 24, 2024
Date Accepted: Sep 26, 2024
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Development of a Digital Platform for Pediatric Mental Health Support During Armed Conflict: Usability and Feasibility Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Background:
The prevalence of mental health disorders among children and adolescents presents a significant public health challenge. Those exposed to mass disasters, such as armed conflicts, are particularly at high risk of developing mental health problems, necessitating prompt and robust intervention.
Objective:
Objective:
To provide a description of a digital mental health tool for community pediatricians, addressing a wide range of emotional and behavioral challenges among children and adolescents, particularly in the context of armed conflict and massive traumatization.
Methods:
Methods:
Utilizing knowledge from continuous collaborative work between pediatricians and mental health professionals in an ambulatory setting, a specialized digital platform was developed and introduced to approximately 1,000 pediatricians in the community. This platform was crafted through the collective expertise of healthcare professionals, including pediatricians and mental health specialists. A focus group of primary users, selected for their relevant community roles, provided feedback on user experience, content relevance, and layout suitability.
Results:
Results:
The study demonstrates the feasibility of rapidly constructing a digital platform to significantly enhance mental health service provision during crises. The platform offers a valuable resource for recognizing, addressing, and monitoring emotional and behavioral challenges in mental health. Key emotional and behavioral manifestations were identified, and 15 detailed modules were created. Each module provides comprehensive information, including anamnesis, initial intervention strategies, parental guidance, medication information, and referral options when necessary.
Conclusions:
Conclusions:
This study highlights the effectiveness of a collaborative approach among pediatricians, mental health professionals, and digital experts in developing a digital tool that meets increased mental health needs during crises. This digital tool enables community pediatricians to perform early recognition, parental psychoeducation, crisis interventions and effective referrals of children and adolescents with behavioral and emotional disturbances during periods of increased mental health needs.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.