Stepped care and mental health technologies

Stepped care is increasingly seen as an appropriate model for efficient and cost-effective provision of needs-based mental healthcare services, and is now recommended by bodies such as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. In this paper we examine how the stepped care model can provide a useful framework for thinking about new mental health technologies. Consideration of each level and intensity of care can suggest provision of specific technological support. Furthermore technology can potentially support transitions between levels of care and improve continuity of care. While it does not provide a complete framework for design – and can be criticised as being service-centred rather than client-centred – it can nonetheless provide a useful part of the analytic frame of the designer.