The acceptability of digital tools in secondary mental healthcare appears acceptable, with promising results regarding efficacy. However, implementation of digital tools within mental health services is problematic. Without considering issues around implementation during the early stages of the development and delivery of digital tools, it is unlikely that these approaches will be disseminated beyond research studies and into mental healthcare services. This symposium brings together some of the world’s key research centres currently engaged in research evaluating integration of digital tools into secondary care mental health services. Bucci will present findings from qualitative and quantitative work regarding mental health staff and service user views on the facilitators and barriers to implementing digital tools into secondary care services. Lewis will then present findings from the ClinTouch/CareLoop trial, a smartphone software system built into the electronic care records of two large UK NHS Trusts targeting active symptom monitoring, symptom self-management and early detection of relapse in early psychosis. When built into clinical management workflows to enable personalised alerts of symptom deterioration, the system has the potential to promote earlier intervention for relapse. Gumley will present the protocol for EMPOWER, an end-to-end self-management system for psychosis being trialled in the UK and Australia. Gumley will discuss issues regarding medical device registration and engaging clinical teams in using the self-management system. Finally, using normalisation process theory, Lobban will report on a study identifying critical factors impacting on the implementation of an online peer supported self-management intervention for relatives of people with SMI.
