Co-design of eHealth Interventions With Children and Young People
Open accessAbstract
Co-design, defined as collective creativity across the entire design process, can lead to the development of interventions that are more engaging, satisfying, and useful to potential users. However, using this methodology within the research arena requires a shift from traditional practice. Co-design of eHealth interventions with children and young people has additional challenges. This review summarizes the applied core principles of co-design and recommends techniques for undertaking co-design with children and young people. Three examples of co-design during the development of eHealth interventions (Starship Rescue, a computer game for treating anxiety in children with long-term physical conditions, a self-monitoring app for use during treatment of depression in young people, and HABITS, the development of an emotional health and substance use app, and eHealth platform for young people) are provided to illustrate the value and challenges of this contemporary process.
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Studies have shown positive effects by including peer groups in the development process and using peers as advisors.
“studies have shown positive effects by including peer groups in the development process [34,36] and using peers as advisors [35,37].”
From Effectiveness of Online and Remote Interventions for Mental Health in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) · cites this paper as [34]
The Introduction’s “Co-design with children and young people” section says that groups of friends or classmates may help conversation in workshops, though less so for sensitive topics. An intervention-development example also describes peers critiquing app designs. These passages support peer involvement in development, but do not establish positive effects from using peers as advisors. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredCo-designed eHealth for adolescents appears to be associated with a more engaging and satisfying user experience.
“Co-designed eHealth for adolescents appears to be associated with a more engaging and satisfying user experience [34-37].”
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- Authors
- Thabrew, H., Fleming, T., Hetrick, S., & Merry, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Thabrew, Hiran
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2018-10-18
- Volume
- 9
- Pages
- 481-481
- ISSN
- 1664-0640 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6200840
- OpenAlex
- W2890984848
- Cited by
- 351
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 70 · 2024: 72 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 7
- FWCI
- 22.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- ResearchSpace (University of Auckland) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Keywords
- co-design, digital health interventions, children and young people, participatory design, child and adolescent mental health, self-monitoring app, substance use prevention, habit, eHealth platform
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