Towards the Design of Ethical Standards Related to Digital Mental Health and all Its Applications

Abstract

Purpose of the review: Digital health technologies offer tremendous potential in increasing access to services and augmenting existing services. Utilizing these technologies, however, poses new ethical considerations for clinicians, researchers, and healthcare organizations. These issues have been particularly apparent recently with several public instances of misuse of digitally available personal data. Responsibility for ethics is distributed among creators, end users, and purveyors which has meant that this aspect of digital technology production and use tends to be thought of as someone else’s problem. Recent findings: In this overview, we discuss key ethical issues and dilemmas in order to drive ethical implementation, future technology development, and potential formal and informal regulation. Key considerations discussed include risk-benefit ratios, privacy and data security, ethical development of digital mental health tools, ethical research processes, and informed consent. Concrete recommendations are made for different stakeholders in digital mental health. Summary: Digital mental health tools come with ethical considerations for the public, patients, clinicians, and health services to feel confident in their use. It will be essential for all groups to recognize their responsibilities and begin to shape frameworks for ethical development and implementation.