Empowerment of Vulnerable Women Through Digital Mental Health Interventions: Design, Engagement, and Impact

The digital transformation of healthcare has opened new pathways for delivering scalable, cost-effective, and accessible interventions, particularly in mental health. In response to rising psychological distress and persistent barriers to care, digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) offer promising tools for prevention and support across diverse populations. This dissertation focuses on the development and evaluation of ALBA, a digital ecosystem designed to promote emotional well-being in women during challenging life transitions such as pregnancy, cancer treatment, and academic development in STEM fields. The primary aim is to explore how evidence-based digital interventions, delivered through chatbots or serious games, can effectively reach underserved women who often do not access traditional services. Indeed, the project investigates how these tools can deliver a shared psychological SH+ protocol, validated by the World Health Organization (WHO), adapted into diverse digital solutions. Key design mediators such as personalisation, AI integration, gamification, and user engagement are expected to ensure usability and acceptability. ALBA includes a series of research studies, some completed, others still ongoing, covering the design and testing of chatbots for perinatal and cancer care, and a serious game (reACT♀) targeting stigma-related stress in female students and doctoral candidates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Co-design and real-world usability testing were central to evaluating these interventions and technological solutions concerning the needs of the target user groups. The overall goal is to promote emotional well-being during key life phases, including pregnancy, cancer treatment, and STEM education. Moreover, an essential aspect of this process is the investigation of people’s attitudes and engagement toward emerging technologies and DMHIs. During the research stay at the University of Twente (NL), these dimensions were explored, to inform more effective, human-centered digital solutions. The findings of this work are expected to inform the future development and implementation phases of these solutions, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between psychology and computer science. The dissertation also addresses the need to overcome the “death valley” of research by proposing sustainable, scalable protocols for translating digital solutions into real-world impact. Results highlight both the potential and limitations of DMHIs, stressing the value of usability, personalization, and blended care models that integrate digital and face-to-face mental health support. ALBA contributes to the growing field of digital mental health, offering flexible, human-centered strategies to enhance care for women during vulnerable transitions.