Community-Based Information Technology Interventions for Persons with Mental Illness

Abstract

The chapter provides the reader with an overview of the problems persons with mental illness experience in their everyday life, and guides readers through how ICT access and usage can be approached in order to empower such a marginalized population in both developed and developing countries. It argues that, since isolation is their main problem, networking those people with reliable sources of medical information, providers of distance training and learning, and online self-help communities can have a profound impact on lifting their marginalization. The author hopes that the role ICT can play for these people will no longer be overlooked or neglected, and that policymakers will be inspired to use ICT worldwide to defeat mental illness by implementing solutions tailored on these people’s needs.