Participatory Design of the Minplan Zero Self-Harm Mobile Phone Application: A Focus Group Study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the needs of people with lived experiences of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), and how they contributed to transforming the Minplan app for suicide prevention into a specialized version addressing self-harm through a participatory process. METHOD: We conducted three focus groups with 10 young female Danes with lived experiences of NSSI and experiences of using safety-planning tools. Transcripts were analyzed thematically. RESULTS: Participants spoke very favorably about the original app's features and were very active in the innovative development of additional features for the specialized "Zero Self-Harm" app. While the Zero Self-Harm app had the same basic safety planning features as the original app, it had different emphases, most notably on interruptions, aspirations and control, which constituted a shift away from focusing on dangers and alarm to focus on the continual management of impulses and keeping aspirations in mind. CONCLUSIONS: Participants with lived experiences of NSSI collaborated actively in developing and implementing new features into the Minplan app to make it more relevant to people with NSSI.