Vignette 2

Moderator: Geoff Revill

MARKETING ETHICS FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES & BYPASSING REAL EFFICACY VALIDATION

No one in mental health service delivery would disagree with the basic understanding that a patient has a right to confidentiality.  Further, few would disagree that confidentiality right extends to someone seeking or engaging with a mental health practitioner. We are all, all too aware of the stigma society attaches to mental health.

So, given that post Cambridge Analytica, where we learned about the power of the internet to collate highly personalised profiles of us, used for purposes we never would have countenanced had we known, do marketers for mental health services not develop a code of ethics and guidelines to ensure they limit the ’digital harm’ that engaging with the internet engenders? 

It's a big subject, but if a person started a job as digital marketer for a digital mental health provider and started applying all kinds of techniques and ways to track and boost search engine optimization, social platform use,  searched fake reviews etc - what oversight or guidance should they be given?

• Web cookies and trackers, should we use them?

• Anonymity - can it be assured?

• Social platforms - what are the risks/benefits?

• Email - is it safe?

• Search engine data collation, a need for guidance for prospective patients?

• SEO - the need to recognise the mental state of our prospective audience