Accessing Web Based Health Care and Resources for Mental Health: Interface Design Considerations for People Experiencing Mental Illness

Abstract

A significant proportion of society experience mental illness, many of which uses the Web for advice and support relating to their illness. With a high proportion of society experiencing anxiety and depression, it is important that web designers are informed of specific requirements to ensure Websites are accessible, particularly those websites that provide support and advice for mental health. Anxiety and depression can affect cognitive functioning, which can then impact upon the accessibility of web based information. The premise of this research is to look at design elements that are most likely to cause issues for people experiencing anxiety and depression. During a focus group, people who have a diagnosis of anxiety and depression were asked to discuss difficulties they experienced when carrying out specific tasks. The results from the study show that the problems encountered can be categorized under three main themes: information retrieval; information presentation and the understanding of information.

Barriers and Facilitation Measures Related to People With Mental Disorders When Using the Web: A Systematic Review

“…Nine of the included studies [ 30 - 33 , 35 , 37 - 39 , 42 ] originated in the United States, 2 studies [ 34 , 40 ] in the United Kingdom, one [ 41 ] in Austria, and another [ 36 ] in Sweden as summarized in Table 1 . Over 62% (10/16) of the included publications [ 32 - 34 , 37 , 38 , 42 ] were published within the last 5 years, and the earliest [ 35 ] was published in 1998.…”

“…Nine of the included studies investigated the usability of Web-based resources [ 30 - 34 , 37 - 40 ] and multimedia tools [ 35 ]. One study focused on Internet use [ 41 ], one on the use of digital technologies [ 36 ], one on the development of a mobile phone system [ 30 ], and another on computer use [ 42 ] among PwMD.…”

“…Three studies [ 37 , 39 , 40 ] used the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM IV), 1 [ 41 ] used the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10), and the remaining studies did not mention the use of a classification of mental disorders. Samples including people with schizophrenia (69%) [ 30 , 32 , 35 - 39 , 41 , 42 ] were most common among the 13 included studies, followed by samples where participants were affected by depression (62%) [ 31 , 32 , 34 - 36 , 38 , 39 , 42 ], schizoaffective disorder (46%) [ 30 , 37 - 39 , 41 , 42 ], anxiety disorders (38%) [ 31 , 34 , 36 , 39 , 42 ], and bipolar disorder (38%) [ 32 , 36 , 38 , 40 , 42 ]. Single studies reported that participants had severe mental illness (SMI) (eg, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and major depression) [ 33 ], mental disorders [ 36 ], psychotic disorders [ 39 ], and substance use disorder [ 39 ] but did not state any particular mental disorder.…”

BETTER-Project: Web Accessibility for Persons with Mental Disorders

“…Good and Sambhanthan [11] reported several website elements that people with depression and anxiety identified as being accessibility issues: distracting design, confusing menu options, poor navigation, time limited response forms, information overload, non-perceivable icons, slow response in websites loading information, poor organisation and presentation complicated language, poor content filters, excessive advertisements, and complex purchasing processes. Ferron et al [12] and Rotondi et al [10] concluded that people with severe mental disorders require sites that explicitly state instructions for their use, feature a shallow hierarchy of pages, use clear and explicit labels, large navigational cues and pop-up menus to reduce clicking.…”

“…A thorough keyword search of several databases (i.e., MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES, CINAHL, Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts, Computers and Applied Sciences Complete, ACM Digital Library, SpringerLink, OpenGrey) for Web accessibility, mental disorders and related terms only returned 3 directly relevant results (i.e., [10][11][12] as discussed earlier).…”