The Design and Evaluation of a Mental Health Educational App for Paternal Postpartum Depression

This study describes the design and evaluation journey for a mental health education app for individuals experiencing paternal postpartum depression (PPD), employing the double diamond model of design thinking and design science research. We explore the problem space with qualitative analysis of primary and secondary data; and design and evaluate two versions of an artifact–one with a traditional interface and the other incorporating gamification elements. Our findings highlight unique challenges faced by fathers with PPD and an assessment of utility and usability of both prototypes. This work makes three key contributions: (1) a tentative “theory of the problem” of paternal PPD as a specific mental health concern, (2) a comparative assessment of traditional and gamified app designs for educating about paternal PPD, and (3) recommendations for designing engaging and effective mental health educational tools. The educational app has practical implications for providing personalized content about paternal PPD with/without gamification.