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This report was authored and produced by: Jonah Bossewitch, Lydia X. Z. Brown, Piers Gooding,, Leah Harris, James Horton, Simon Katterl, Keris Myrick, Kelechi Ubozoh, Alberto Vasquez

A PDF version of this report can be accessed here.

Graphic Design of the PDF report by Natasha Chu: www.chudesign.com.au/

Digital Futures in Mind: Reflecting on Technological Experiments in Mental Health & Crisis Support

Suggested citation: Jonah Bossewitch, Lydia X. Z. Brown, Piers Gooding, Leah Harris, James Horton, Simon Katterl, Keris Myrick, Kelechi Ubozoh and Alberto Vasquez, Digital Futures in Mind: Reflecting on Technological Experiments in Mental Health & Crisis Support (University of Melbourne, 2021) https://automatingmentalhealth.cc

 

Table of Contents

01.Foreword
05
02.Introduction
08
0.1 Structure
09
0.2 How was the Report Written?
09
0.3 What Recommendations Does the Report Make?
10
0.4 A Note on Terminology
13
0.5 Minding Language about Mental Health and Technology
13
03.Part 1 - The Rise of Data and Automation in Mental Health
16
1.1 What are the different ways technology is used in crisis support and mental health care?
19
1.2 Benefits Noted in Research
20
1.3 Digitising Involuntary Psychiatric Intervention and Other Coercive Measures
22
1.3.1 AI-based Suicide Alerts and Self-harm Surveillance
22
1.3.2 ‘Digitising mental health law’
24
1.3.3 Power and Coercion in Mental Health
26
1.4 Biometric Monitoring Technologies
28
1.4.1 Power and Justice in the Biometric and Digital Turn
31
1.4.2 Governing the Future of Biometric Monitoring in Mental Health Settings
37
1.5 Elevating the Perspective of People with Lived Experience of Extreme Distress and Disability
28
04.Part 2 - Themes for Responsible Public Governance
43
2.1 Privacy
44
2.1.1 Ad-Tech and Predictive Public Health Surveillance
45
2.1.2 Privacy and Monetisation of Sensitive Personal Data
47
2.1.3 Data Theft and Data Trafficking
51
2.1.4 Privacy and Discrimination
52
2.1.5 Data Protection Law
52
2.1.6 Informed Consent
54
2.2 Accountability
56
2.2.1 Privatisation and Accountability
58
2.3 Safety and security
61
2.3.1 Safety
61
2.3.2 Security
62
2.4 Non-Discrimination and Equity
64
2.4.1 Non-discrimination and the Prevention of Bias
64
2.4.2 Fairness
69
2.4.3 Equality
69
2.4.4 Inclusive Design – Emancipatory? Participatory?
71
2.4.5 Access to Technology
72
2.5 Human control of technology
73
2.5.1 Human Review of Automated Decision
74
2.5.2 Ability to Opt-Out of Automated Decision-Making
75
2.6 Professional responsibility
76
2.6.1 Multi-disciplinary and Participatory Collaboration
76
2.6.2 Scientific Integrity and Testing Claims
77
2.6.3 Against Hype and ‘Techno-solutionism’
77
2.6.4 Responsible Design, Including Consideration of Long-Term Effects
79
2.7 Transparency and explainability
80
2.7.1 Open-Source Data and Algorithms
80
2.7.2 Other Issues of Transparency and Explainability
82
2.8 Promotion of Public Interest and Societal Good
83
2.8.1 Automation, Undermining Face-to-Face Care, and the Risk of Depersonalisation
83
2.8.2 Expanding the Frame from the Individual to the Social
85
2.9 International Human Rights
87
2.10 Future Efforts
92
05.Conclusion
94

Acknowledgements

Ms Ann Njambi and Ms Charity Muturi provided invaluable feedback on the virtual support network in Kenya (page 39).

PG: This work wouldn’t have occurred without funding and support from the Mozilla Foundation. Thanks to Jenn Beard and all Mozilla Fellows of 2019-20. Invaluable feedback on an early draft was provided by A/Prof Nev Jones. Stephanie Slack, Timothy Kariotis and David Clifford assisted at different drafting stages. Support from the Melbourne Law School and its Office for Research, as well as the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, was also crucial. The report was partly produced with funding from the Australian Research Council (project no. DE200100483).

KU: I want to acknowledge the co-authors of this paper, and a special acknowledgment for Piers Gooding for modeling that our future technologies should be more than just inclusive of lived experience, but fully integrate the people who will be most impacted by the proposed solutions to co-create and co-develop culturally responsive real mental health solutions that respond to our needs.

Images for this report were generously provided by the Science Gallery Melbourne at the University of Melbourne, drawn from its inaugural exhibition MENTAL: Head inside from January – June 2022. Science Gallery Melbourne is part of the global Science Gallery Network pioneered by Trinity College Dublin.

This report was largely written on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation.