Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jan 22, 2025
Date Accepted: Apr 15, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Developing a National Strategy for Digital Mental Health in Ireland: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis of a Stakeholder Engagement Process.
ABSTRACT
Background:
The World Health Organisation recommends integrating digital technologies into mental health care, underscoring the need for countries to develop national digital mental health strategies to guide efforts. In Ireland, the national Digital Mental Health (DMH) Specialist Group brought together key stakeholders in DMH research, practise, and lived experience, to develop ‘A Shared Vision for Digital Mental Health in Ireland’.
Objective:
The current study aimed to explore the views of DMH stakeholders to set priorities for the development of a DMH strategy.
Methods:
47 stakeholders were each assigned to one of six focused strategy discussion groups. Invited stakeholders included experts in DMH research, clinical practise, mental health advocacy and policy, together with those with lived experience of accessing mental health services. Qualitative data was analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis approach. Researchers followed Braun and Clarke's 6-step framework.
Results:
Five major themes were identified; Inclusive Access, User-led, Trust, Education and Training, and Connectedness. Major themes related to 15 sub-themes. Inclusive Access comprised of inclusivity, accessibility and early intervention. User-led encompassed co-production, choice, and needs-led. Compelling narrative, regulation, policy and governance, and evidence-base were identified within the theme of Trust. The sub-themes of digital literacy, mental health literacy and transformation were identified within Education and Training. Finally, Connectedness incorporated the sub-themes of integration, relationships, and stigma.
Conclusions:
Overall, delegates viewed digital technology as a potential enabler of accessible and inclusive mental health support. The need for policy to address concerns regarding privacy, further education and training needs, regulation, and a robust evidence base were raised. Co-production at all stages was identified as key to reducing access barriers and enhancing inclusion. Themes identified were used to inform the development of the first national DMH strategy in Ireland. Further research will involve a consensus seeking process to refine and prioritise actions to guide implementation planning. Clinical Trial: Not applicable.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
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.