Amy Hardy1, Philippa Garety1; 1Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London
Difficult emotions and life stressors are ubiquitous, but access to psychological interventions is limited meaning that timely, early interventions are rare (Haller et al, 2014). Even when available, people can be reluctant to take up therapy (O’Dea et al, 2015). Standalone therapy apps show promise in improving the provision of early intervention, although need to be sensitively designed if they are to meet implementation challenges (Greenhalgh et al, 2017). In response to this concern, we have developed Mo, an app to support managing emotions and stress, which has the potential to address obstacles to therapy availability, uptake and adherence. Our team of industrial engineers, clinicians and researchers combined the ‘Double Diamond’ methodology (Design Council, 2015) with agile working with developers (Dybå, Dingsøyr et al, 2008). Insights were gained through interviews and workshops with young adults. Personas were built up from these insights, informing subsequent co-creation sessions. Mo’s key functions and concepts were created, along with the visual language and branding, and refined following feasibility testing. Users define Mo’s look and role (i.e. friend, therapist or coach) who then supports users to manage problems and find solutions. Mo draws on second and third wave cognitive-behavioural principles including cognitive restructuring (SlowMo), relaxation and mindfulness (FlowMo) and activity scheduling and distraction (GoMo). It is envisaged that the broad focus of Mo will lend itself to user testing with diverse groups, with insights iteratively incorporated into future versions.
