Research led by Associate Professor Piers Gooding has examined the legal and regulatory challenges of delivering mental healthcare through digital technologies.
“High quality mental health care can be provided through digital technologies safely and effectively. But in some instances, online health technologies are being used without a clear sense of the legal requirements,” he says. “This may be because clinical innovators and technologists are uncertain, perhaps the laws haven’t caught up to the technology or, in some instances, a legal requirement is being breached.”
The risks associated with these challenges range from threats to privacy, safety and data security, to more complex concerns such as digital surveillance, data misuse and the expansion of coercive practices through automated tools.
Associate Professor Gooding argues that these dangers can be mitigated through careful regulation and rights-based, participatory approaches to technology development and governance.
“Service users, families, clinicians, technology developers and the general public all benefit from a clear and fit-for-purpose legal and regulatory system,” he says.
As part of his research, Dr Gooding has developed a suite of resources, including a report with the Mozilla Foundation, recommendations from a workshop with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and a paper co-authored with lived experience advisors on the role of lived experience in digital mental health.
The resources can be viewed at www.digitalfutures.care/
