Moderated Online Social Therapy for Young People - R Lederman

We are pleased to invite you to:

The Institute of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 2016/17

Title: Moderated Online Social Therapy for Young People

Presenter: Professor Reeva Lederman

Date: 6 September 2016

Time: 1pm lunch will be served 30mins beforehand

Venue: WILT - Western Infirmary Seminar Room

Chair: Professor Andrew Gumley

Abstract:

This seminar will discuss a project which has developed an on-line therapy for young people with mental illness. Although the use and prevalence of Web-based mental health applications have grown over the past decade, many of these services suffer high rates of attrition. This is problematic, as face-to-face support for mental health is limited. To determine appropriate design guidelines for increasing engagement, we conducted a study of First-Episode Psychosis (FEP) patients and reviewed theories on the use of existing online services. We produced a set of design goals, developed an online application that combined social networking and online therapy within a clinician-moderated site, and conducted a 6-week trial with a group of young FEP patients. The seminar will discuss this trial and how we designed the on-line application through a participatory design process. It will also discuss some of the unique ethical problems which beset Information Systems researchers working in the health domain.

Biography

Reeva Lederman is an Associate Professor in the Computing and Information Systems department at the University of Melbourne. She leads the Computational Bioinformatics and Health Information Systems Research group in CIS. Her research includes foundational work in Information Systems theory as well as applied work in IS design. The latter includes projects such as approaches to using Information Systems to alleviate chronic diseases such as Diabetes and online support systems for young people suffering from mental health issues. She has been published in EJIS and ToCHI and was the 2012 recipient of the prestigious international Stafford Beer Medal for IS research.