Research project – technology and mental wellbeing

Research project – technology and mental wellbeing

by | Jul 12, 2015 | PhD | 2 comments

I recently met Aislinn Bergin, a PhD student, at the King’s Fund Digital Congress and it was great to find out about her research. As I enter the final stages of writing up my thesis, it’s nice to be able to help out someone in the early stages of their PhD journey. Here is a bit more from Aislinn about her research: I have to admit that I wish I had thought of the words ‘people-driven’ when I first started my research. Instead I chose the much more difficult to explain concept of ‘autonomous’ – it’s also one of those terribly academic words that no one really knows the meaning of. Oh to go back in time! In fact the title of my research, “a constructive grounded theory study of the experiences of autonomous users of digital mental health” is quite a mouthful, so much so that I had to set up a website just to explain it! People-driven really does explain my research quite well though. I’m inviting people to tell me about their experiences of digital mental health, of using technology for their mental wellbeing. After spending the past 3 or 4 years digging deep into the world of digital mental health, looking at everything from computerised CBT to gaming apps for anxiety, I realised that there was something really significant going on. On the one hand you had all this research looking at the efficacy and acceptability of various digital tools and activities and on the other you had people using them. Lots of new stuff was being created, tested and rolled out with less than perfect results (few...
How to get the *un* into *awards* #PDDAwards15

How to get the *un* into *awards* #PDDAwards15

by | Jul 5, 2015 | #PDDAwards15 | 1 comment

An unconference is a participant-led event that rejects the trappings of conventional conferences (such as sponsored presentations and top-down organisation) and whose content is generated by the people who participate. A typical format is an agenda set collaboratively at the beginning of the event and without a hierarchy of speakers at the podium. I’ve been using this format for a number of years now and find its generative and equitable nature both appealing and productive. I’ve written previously about value of the unconference format here. Putting the *un* into awards So as a lover of the unconference, I was most intrigued when comms2point0 ran their inaugural unawards in 2014 in the spirit of having an event that was accessible, fun and a little bit out of the ordinary. Inspired by the idea of unAawards and keen to support a growing community of ground up digital innovators a, who don’t often get the limelight, the People Driven Digital unAwards #PDDAwards15 were born. The lovely Anne Cooper and I joined forces and got to work convincing organisations to help us out with some modest sponsorship to cover our costs and help make it happen. There were a few things that we important to us – an event that was simple to enter, judged by peers, free to attend (recognising that people would have to get there under their own steam which was tricky for a few) was informal and was fun. The awards created a focal point, but we were equally keen to get people along to collaborate, share and learn, as well as be inspired. We wanted the entrepreneurial spark...