Augmented Humanity: A Systematic Mapping Review

Augmented humanity (AH) is a term that has been mentioned in several research papers. However, these papers differ in their definitions of AH. The number of publications dealing with the topic of AH is represented by a growing number of publications that increase over time, being high impact factor scientific contributions. However, this terminology is used without being formally defined. The aim of this paper is to carry out a systematic mapping review of the different existing definitions of AH and its possible application areas. Publications from 2009 to 2020 were searched in Scopus, IEEE and ACM databases, using search terms “augmented human”, ”human augmentation” and “human 2.0”. Of the 16,914 initially obtained publications, a final number of 133 was finally selected. The mapping results show a growing focus on works based on AH, with computer vision being the index term with the highest number of published articles. Other index terms are wearable computing, augmented reality, human–robot interaction, smart devices and mixed reality. In the different domains where AH is present, there are works in computer science, engineering, robotics, automation and control systems and telecommunications. This review demonstrates that it is necessary to formalize the definition of AH and also the areas of work with greater openness to the use of such concept. This is why the following definition is proposed: “Augmented humanity is a human–computer integration technology that proposes to improve capacity and productivity by changing or increasing the normal ranges of human function through the restoration or extension of human physical, intellectual and social capabilities.”

Creative Design Approaches in Digital Mental Health Interventions: Exploratory Mapping Review (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Digital mental health interventions show great potential to alleviate mental illness and increase access to care. However, these technologies face significant problems in terms of adoption. While it is suggested that this issue stems from a lack of user perspective in the development process, several creative design approaches have been developed over the years to consider this important aspect. Still, there have been few examples of creative design approaches and end users' involvement in the development of digital solutions in the field of mental health. OBJECTIVE The main objective of this literature review was to understand how design is considered in e-mental health intervention research. METHODS An exploratory mapping review was conducted among journals with an explicit scope covering mental health and technology. The creative design approaches reported and the core elements of a design activity (i.e., the object, the context, the design process and the actors involved) were examined among the eligible studies. RESULTS 30 studies met the inclusion criteria. 22 studies mentioned using creative design approaches or specific design methods in the development of an e-mental health solution. Approaches reported could be classified as participatory design (n=11), codesign (n=6), user-centered-design (n=5) or specific design methods (n=5). Just about half of the approaches mentioned (n=15/27) were supported by references. It was not possible to associate any creative design approaches with the description made of the main core elements (i.e., process, actors). End users were involved to some extent in all studies. For their part, designers were only involved in 8 studies, which was less than software development teams (n=14). That said, unlike the latter, their presence was noticed throughout the design process. CONCLUSIONS Results show that there are attempts to integrate creative design approaches into the development of e-mental health solutions. However, they rely very little on designers nor design research. Researchers and technology developers should know the underpinnings of creative design methods when choosing an approach over another. They should also consider involving designers to fully implement those methods and approaches.

Disciplinary differences in the study of the relationship between social variables and mental health: A systematic mapping review

There has been sustained interest in the intersection between social constructs and mental health from diverse disciplines including psychiatry, sociology and public health. However, no systematic attempt has been made to catalogue what is meant by ‘social’ by different researchers, how variables deemed ‘social’ constructs are linked to mental health, nor whether these patterns differ by academic discipline. Understanding interdisciplinary differences and commonalities may reveal opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration to enhance our understanding of how social factors relate to mental health. This article presents a prospectively registered systematic map of social approaches to mental health using an innovative synthesis methodology (coding all sentences from a random selection of N = 287 articles). Results indicated that although approaches are diverse, disciplinary overlap is substantial. Psychology and psychiatry led articles tend to focus on social skills or emotions as features of mental (ill-)health, while public health and social sciences led articles tend to focus on social relationships, status or context as determinants of mental (ill-)health. Medicine led articles were most likely to focus on social outcomes of mental (ill-)health. Potential growth areas are noted, particularly the relative dearth of intervention research drawing upon social approaches. The findings are discussed with a view towards enabling more effective interdisciplinary collaboration.