Digitalizing psychiatric home treatment: Participatory design study on essential digital features with patients and professionals
Hannah Mundry, Toni Starke, Justin Speck, Martin Heinze, Stefan Hochwarter, Julian SchwarzObjectives
Home Treatment (HT) is an established alternative to inpatient psychiatric care, enabling the management of acute mental health crises in patients’ home environments. However, maintaining treatment intensity and delivering group-based interventions remain challenging, particularly due to spatial and structural constraints. Digital health solutions may help address these barriers. This study aimed to explore patient needs, identify key digital features to support both patients and HT teams, and translate these insights into a user-centered mock-up of a mobile health (mHealth) application.
Methods
A participatory digital design approach was used involving patients (n = 13), healthcare professionals (n = 6), and software developers (n = 2), all with lived HT experience or ≥2 years of professional HT practice. Across three rounds of discussion groups (6/2023–9/2025; n = 4), participants co-developed ideas, which developers iteratively translated into feasible digital concepts. Transcripts were analysed inductively using structured qualitative content analysis, with findings continuously validated and integrated into an application mockup.
Results
Analysis yielded five overarching functional domains and 18 associated digital features: (1) Coordination and scheduling – calendar, reminders, team overviews, appointment coordination; (2) Information and documentation management – treatment overviews, patient profiles, centralized documentation, data sharing; (3) Self-management – mood diary, reminders, visualisation of mood trajectories, task planning; (4) Communication and remote care – secure messaging, emergency button, configurable notifications, feedback; (5) Peer Exchange – protected peer forums, digital group therapy, regional support directories. Overall, participants emphasised usability, ongoing technical support, and team involvement as critical, while digital literacy and device accessibility emerged as potential barriers.
Conclusion
Digital applications can enhance patient-centeredness and intensity, complexity, and flexibility of HT by addressing structural constraints. Participatory digital design and structured clinical implementation are essential for sustainable adoption. Future research should examine feasibility, effectiveness, and long-term impact of digitally supported HT models.