"Like Shock Absorbers": Understanding the Human Infrastructures of Technology-Mediated Mental Health Support
Abstract
Significant research in HCI and beyond has sought to understand end-user needs in formal and informal technology-mediated mental health support (TMMHS) systems. However, little work has been done to understand the experiences and needs of the individuals who power or support these systems, particularly in the Global South. We present a qualitative study of one of the most accessible forms of mental health care in India — helplines. Through in-depth interviews conducted with 12 helpline volunteers, we research the human infrastructure responsible for the functioning of helplines. We foreground the often invisible labor involved in erecting and maintaining the institutional, interpersonal, and individual boundaries that are critical to realizing the goals of these helplines. Finally, we discuss the implications of our research for future work examining human infrastructures, particularly in mental health settings, and for the design of future TMMHS systems that deliver on-demand care to diverse, underserved, and stigmatized populations.
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Technology and social media could be a luxury to marginalized and underprivileged populations, and any sort of technology-driven support and assistance will disproportionately affect different individuals based on technology use.
“technology and social media could be a luxury to marginalized and underprivileged populations, and any sort of technology-driven support and assistance will disproportionately affect different individuals based on technology use [88].”
From Psychosocial Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Large-scale Quasi-Experimental Study on Social Media (2020) · cites this paper as [88]
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References 61 · Cited by 53
- Authors
- Pendse, S. R., Lalani, F. M., De Choudhury, M., Sharma, A., & Kumar, N.
- Affiliations
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Microsoft Research (India) (IN)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2020-04-21
- Pages
- 1-14
- OpenAlex
- W3007934595
- Cited by
- 53
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 5
- FWCI
- 12.07
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- telephone helpline, human infrastructure, invisible work, mental health services, Global South, India, underserved populations, stigma, institutional boundaries, interpersonal boundaries
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