Househ Mowafa, Alam Tanvir, Al-Thani Dena, Schneider Jens, Siddig Mohammad Ali, Fernandez-Luque Luis, Qaraqe Marwa, Alfuquha Ala, Saxena Shekhar
Information and Computing Technology Division, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Doha, Qatar.
Community Mental Health Services, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
Stud Health Technol Inform. 2019 Jul 4;262:392-395. doi: 10.3233/SHTI190101.
Individuals within the Arab world rarely access mental health services. One of the major reasons for this relates to the stigma associated with mental disorders. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), untreated and undiagnosed individuals living with moderate to severe mental health disorders are more likely to die 10-20 years earlier than the estimated life expectancy of the general population. Mental disorders also cause a large amount of costs to economies. Access to mental health services is out of reach for many individuals within in the Arab world due to insufficient planning, inadequate community resources, and military conflicts. Online mental health information and services are growing within the region; however, they are embedded and often sidelined within a wealth of other general health information. The purpose of this paper is to present the conceptual framework of the Mental Health Assistant (MeHA) digital platform being developed for the Arab world. The aim of this platform is to provide mental health information and educational resources through the use of a conversational agent, multi-media information, and to digitally connect patients with mental health service providers. The conceptual framework for the platform is based on mental health and information technology expert feedback, review of both academic and gray literature on mental health, and an examination of leading mental health digital platforms. As a result of this process, we developed a conceptual framework that will guide the development of the MeHA platform.
阿拉伯世界的人们很少能获得心理健康服务。造成这种情况的一个主要原因与精神障碍所带来的污名化有关。根据世界卫生组织（WHO）的数据，患有中度至重度心理健康障碍且未得到治疗和诊断的人比普通人群的预期寿命早10至20年死亡的可能性更高。精神障碍还给经济带来了巨大成本。由于规划不足、社区资源匮乏以及军事冲突，阿拉伯世界的许多人无法获得心理健康服务。该地区的在线心理健康信息和服务正在不断增加；然而，它们被大量其他一般健康信息所淹没，且往往被边缘化。本文的目的是介绍正在为阿拉伯世界开发的心理健康助手（MeHA）数字平台的概念框架。该平台的目标是通过使用对话代理、多媒体信息来提供心理健康信息和教育资源，并将患者与心理健康服务提供者进行数字连接。该平台的概念框架基于心理健康和信息技术专家的反馈、对心理健康领域学术文献和灰色文献的回顾以及对领先心理健康数字平台的考察。通过这一过程，我们开发了一个将指导MeHA平台开发的概念框架。
