SlowMo / Mo - digital technology to provide support in coping with daily life.

Abstract

This project builds on previous work bringing inclusive design methodologies and expertise to therapy for paranoid and suspicious thoughts in people with severe mental health problems. Culminating in an interactive digital platform to support service users both in and outside of therapy sessions, this prior work established core design principles, with the platform currently going through a multi-centre randomised controlled trial. This project seeks to extend the benefits of the digital platform beyond diagnosed mental health difficulties to include a standalone app for anyone seeking to better regulate emotions and cope with daily life. The fundamental therapeutic principles underpinning SlowMo include (among others) the ability to recognise unhelpful thoughts, to slow down ‘fast’ thinking (jumping to conclusions), and the identification of alternative explanations for the observed situation or upsetting thought. The design principles of SlowMo include (among others) representing thoughts as bubbles, resizing them, and slowing down ‘spinning’ bubbles to encourage the user to engage in slower thinking. A larger scale clinical trial will establish its clinical efficacy compared to treatment as usual. The project aim is to adapt and expand both the therapeutic and design principles to target a broader audience with common emotion difficulties experienced by the majority of the population. The team combined the ‘Double Diamond’ methodology with agile working with developers. Insights were gained through extensive interviews and workshops with a variety of potential users. Personas were built up from these insights, informing subsequent co-creation sessions. A number of extra functions and concepts were created, and refined using critical feedback. The additional app framework and functionality were refined, along with the visual language and branding. Rapid iterative design and coding work packages allowed for the collaborative development and testing of sections of the app