MENDIS.app (Mental Distress Application) an audio-based survey web-app, using mental health screening as a test case to evaluate the broader use of audio-based surveys. The “Augmented Audio” (AUMA) framework is a lightweight, open source software framework that allows developers to produce interactive audio-based learning content or surveys.
The MENDIS survey is based on the WHO’s ten question “Self Response Questionnaire”, or SRQ-10 for short. MENDIS.app was piloted in Pakistan, in collaboration with a local partner NGO, Aurat Raaj. Part of this pilot trial was an evaluation of the user experience, the experience of the NGO using the app and the impact on beneficiaries.
This evaluation highlighted the potential of the survey framework, specifically in the context of mental health support:
- In the pilot, the survey framework had huge potential to improve beneficiary support. This is as the interactive elements of the survey tool made users actively engage with its content also after the survey’s completion, creating reflective spaces for learning. The information gathered in the survey could also be used to ensure that highly specific and context sensitive information is delivered to the user.
- The pilot highlighted that NGOs can similarly benefit from the survey framework, as it allowed them to target support for individual beneficiaries remotely. Additionally, aggregating the data collected through the survey framework to a population level has the potential to produce robust evidence on the prevalence of issues in target populations, which could enable NGOs to develop support strategies and unlock the funding necessary to deliver them.
- However, piloting the survey framework also highlighted the need for a close integration of the software into existing support structures and work “on the ground”. In the first instance, users need to be sufficiently digitally literate, understand the survey tool, and trust it enough to share (sensitive) information with it; in our pilot, having local charity partners explain the survey and its purpose was a highly effective way to accomplish this. In the second case, there are clear limits on what the provision of information can achieve by itself, if users are not at the same time provided the material support and help they need to act on this information.
- The pilot revealed the need for developing mental health support in women in rural Pakistan, the location of the pilot intervention.
