A systemic ethical framework for mobile mental health: from design to implementation

The burgeoning field of mobile mental health has brought increased awareness of the need for greater ethical and regulatory frameworks to guide the design, use, and implementation of innovative interventions for vulnerable populations. Mental healthcare has long been guided and regulated by ethical principles and codes of conduct aimed at ensuring standards of practice, professional behaviour, and good and fair delivery of care. Key ethical concepts, such as safety, privacy, and competency, form an integral part of the language and behaviours of mental health practitioners. These issues pervade mobile mental health in much of the same way as traditional mental healthcare. Yet, the multidisciplinary nature of mobile mental health demands a broader conceptualisation and application of these ideas. At its most basic level, mobile mental health unites the fields of mental health, computer science, and human computer interaction. Each of these unique disciplines has its own ethical considerations and standards. There is need for greater integration of all disciplines and a more unified approach to understanding these shared and unique ethical concepts. Without a holistic approach to these critical matters, we risk the development and implementation of mobile mental health which falls short of accepted standards and which pose potential risks to individuals and society. The present research seeks to address this challenge with the development of a systemic ethical framework for mobile mental health. Guided by preliminary review of literature, we conceptualised a systems-based framework capturing the interrelation of pertinent ethical concepts across various disciplines and stakeholder groups, from the fundamental unit of the individual user to practitioners, developers, health agencies, and governance