Selected Concept
I’ve decided that I will be taking forward the concept of providing a platform/process where patients can fill out a survey regarding their mental health that will generate a informative report for their Doctor as well as a visual representation for them to keep and do with as they please.
I’m hoping that this process will help break down communication barriers that can sometimes prevent people from getting the help the need or sometimes getting any help at all. This ‘survey’, for lack of a better word, will hopefully allow people to communicate non verbally to their doctors in a more comfortable environment, whether that be at home or alone in a private room in practice. As people are known to freeze up when talking about their biggest insecurities or vulnerabilities I really do think this alternative approach may help people come forward.
Also, by generating something visual it may bring a sense of engagement to the topic, breaking down the stress and worry that comes with talking about your own mental health and replacing it with a creative curiosity for what the outcome will be.
Online Quizzes
Although I do believe that a survey will help people, it is absolutely vital for me to make sure that the language and tone used within this is suitable to avoid upsetting or scaring anyone away from the service. To help me understand how to achieve the correct balance, I began looking into existing online quizzes and surveys put in place by the NHS and other healthcare services that aim to lead people in the right direction when it comes to seeking out help in regards to their health.
NHS Mood Self Assessment
OCD Test
I really liked how after every question, this quiz/test offered some form of explanation straight afterwards. I feel this will help soothe those taking the quiz, helping them to understand that their answers are in fact normal and in some cases explain that although their experiences don’t fit into the generalised stereotype, it doesn’t lessen their troubles.
Afterwards you are led to a information page that helps people understand OCD further as well as provide contact information on where they can get help if necessary.
Overall Health Test
Although this test wasn’t just based around mental health, it’s laid back approach to things may help lessen the stress of talking about intimate health concerns. Although this approach may be a bit too laid back for my project, I think it’s nice to keep different ways of wording in mind.
Clinical Partners Mental Health Tests
This site offers a high range of quizzes that can help point you in the right direction when it comes to your mental health. However, because these are quizzes formulated by a private mental health partnership, it’s hard to shift the idea that most of these results will heavily lean towards getting those that take the quizzes to then go on to using their services. Although I’m sure these quizzes aren’t all bad and that their primary objective is to try and help people, I do have to question whether or not this could potentially lead to some people being misled.
Feedback
To gain some further insight into my idea, I decided to ask a few close friends of mine that I know are currently suffering with their mental health whether or not they would find this project helpful.
Q – If you were to go to the doctors now about your mental health, would you be happy to fill out a survey before hand that will inform them of what your going through?
“Yeah… …perhaps if there was a website that doctors had access to that someone with mental health issues could create an account with, that would be good – so like the patient could do a survey on there and access services through it, whilst the doctor can monitor the survey and what things the patient may need etc.”
All 3 seemed pretty engaged with the idea, and after to speaking with Antony a little further, we came up with some further additions that could make the project more interesting…
We spoke about how we could bring in sound that would work with or instead of the visual representation to help the patient feel more at ease with their current struggles.
Format
Based on the feedback I had received from close friends, I am leaning towards this taking a digital form. Whether that be a website or an app. However, I’m very aware that this may exclude some people, in particular the older generation as using a digital format isn’t something they all have access to or are even comfortable with using.
On the other hand, I’m also aware that I’m not going to be able to please everyone so I’m making a conscious decision to proceed with what I know will work for now with hopes that if this project were to become a reality, the issue of reaching those audiences will be resolved at a later date.
My GP recently brought in a new feature where you can effectively have a Doctors appointment over a video call, opposed to having to go in and see them. Although this isn’t done using your usual doctors, they use a service called Push Doctor.
Push Doctor is a third party company that provides their own doctors to help people receive help in a faster, time efficient manner. Although these appointments may lead to them booking you in to see a Doctor from your GP in person, the initial contact has already been made and your issue investigated. This helps save moved the NHS and the patient time and seems to be a reasonably fault proof system.
Keeping that in mind, I do feel like establishing an online base may be a step in the right direction for this project. As, without this the ‘survey’ may end up looking like just that, a cold link sent to the patient with no feeling of intimacy or engagement. Whereas providing it with a base of some form, may ground it a little and make it more of a experience rather than a chore.
My GP currently embeds different ways to access and engage with the system by simply creating another page on their website, for example, their E-Consultant Service – this goes to show that this project may not necessarily need it’s own website, but rather a brand, identity and a format that can be easily embedded within multiple existing sites and platforms.
Sian Laüra 