Design Challenge
#2: How might we encourage our community to support one another and look out for those who are socially isolated?
Project Description
COVID-19 has shed light into the importance of mental wellness in Singapore. This is reflected in the increase in the number of calls for help on our national mental health hotlines by as much as 22% to 50% over the past three months compared to the previous year. The current national mental healthcare infrastructure is largely reactive and do not proactively engage Singaporeans to take good care of their mental health. While we acknowledge that mental health issues stems from various sources, we believe that it is possible to help develop good mental wellness tips to help curb with these before they fall into the deep hole.
With the help of technology with AI-assisted chatbot, a online mental wellness community, and a personalised mental wellness programme, these will help frame the app.
Criteria #1: Value
The Singapore Mental Health Study 2010 found that about one in eight Singapore residents will experience a mental health issue in their lifetime, and a majority of mental health issues occurs by 26 years old. Yet, only a third of Singaporeans with mental illness will seek help and misperceptions towards mental health issues still exist. We are pursuing this project with two purposes:
1. Employ proactive measures to reach out and help those who are vulnerable to mental health issues, and
2. Take actionable steps towards raising public education through sharing of personal experiences by persons with mental health issues.
Criteria #2: Inspiration
They say that necessity is the mother of innovation. With the COVID-19 and Circuit Breaker measures, Singaporeans are encouraged to stay home and telecommute. And for students, engage in HBL. As much as home is synonymous with comfort, being cooped up in the same environment for a month can induce unknowing psychological stressors with little room to vent these out. Many of our routines are disrupted, and the climbing number of infections and death rates makes us concerned about our health and our future. Staying at home could also increase tensions within family members.
Our National CARE Hotline for mental wellness are also being stretched due to shortage of manpower. If only we could help ease this while reaching out to more people.
Criteria #3: Impact
The app will be promoted as a ‘mental wellness’ rather than a ‘mental health’ app, with the hope of shifting the mentality away from the perception that mental disturbances is a ‘disease’. It puts the emphasis on self-care and that tending to one’s own mental state will lead to the goal of a healthy mind. It is meant to be lightweight, focusing on the two purposes previously mentioned, with three key developmental outcomes of:
1. Providing avenues of help,
2. Building strong social connections hence reducing stigma, and
3. Developing mental growth/coping mechanisms.
Criteria #4: Timeliness
As with most app development projects, this is easily scalable. Our target audience would include pre-teens to working adults, most adept in the usage of technology.
The team should consist of a UX researcher to enhance the user journey, a UI designer to present the information seamlessly, and a front-end developer to create the backbone of the app. While features such Chatbots, a Machine-Learning assisted questionnaire may take some time to develop, it is highly possible to churn it out within 6 months.
Criteria #5: Systems Thinking
We are not designing it specifically for COVID-19. This application would serve under the Singapore Association of Mental Health, and serves to project its objectives into the eyes of the public. It can be integrated seamlessly to the current National CARE Hotline, as well as with other NGOs. It has the potential to digitise the current clinical management systems for booking psychiatrist appointments, and provide psychological treatment for those who are physically immobile via teleconferencing.
At the same time, it harnesses technology (e.g Chatbot) to ease the strain on our already limited psychology-trained professionals, hence allowing them to focus on more dire cases needing intervention.