As someone working across the fields of Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology and Art, I value transdisciplinary research, or that which combines disciplines.
Understanding context and thinking in terms of systems is fundamental to my research. I recognize the stunning complexity of human beings and thus consider qualitative inquiry to be an important and under-valued means of deepening our knowledge. I believe the ethical implications of research practices should be considered carefully and consistently during the research process.
In 2025 I graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a PhD in Computer Science (Human-Computer Interaction). My thesis was titled Understanding Readiness and Motivation for Digital Mental Health Support. This project was co-funded by the Irish Research Council and the Irish company SilverCloud Health (acquired by Amwell in 2021).
I am now pursuing independent research projects and exploring post-doctoral opportunities. If you’d like to work with me, please get in touch!
Email: jacintajardine@proton.me
Some of my PhD findings
- A person’s need for mental health care and their motivation to engage with this care are linked. They are influenced by the particular context or situation a person is in and the things going on around them.
- Motivation is often thought of as an internal force existing only in a person’s mind, but I found it to be something that comes about as a relationship between a person and their environment. It arises in certain circumstances that can be unique and sporadic.
- Attempts are frequently made to increase a person’s motivation as a way to increase their engagement with health and mental health services. This individualisation and instrumentalisation of motivation (i.e., treating it as a solely internal mental force and a tool that can be harnessed) can lead people to feel shame and judge themselves negatively if they experience difficulties engaging with care. This is called self-stigma, and these feelings can decrease a person’s motivation for seeking help and engaging with care.
- Digital mental health interventions can be a stepping stone to further care or an easily accessible long-term form of support, but they need to be well embedded into healthcare systems.
- Including the option for contact with a human being should be a prerequisite for any digital mental health support option.
Publications
Jardine, J., Nadal, C., Barry, M., Snow, D., McDermott, F., & Robinson, S. (2024). Design for the Long Now: Temporal Tools for Navigating Ethics in HCI. In Companion Publication of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS ’24 Companion). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 433–437.
Lewis, M., Sturdee, M., . . . Jardine, J., . . . Rivière, J. P., (2024) Traveling Arts x HCI Sketchbook: Exploring the Intersection Between Artistic Expression and Human-Computer Interaction. In Extended Abstracts of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’24). ACM, New York, NY, USA.
Jardine, J., Nadal, C., Robinson, S., Enrique, A., Hanratty, M., & Doherty, G. (2024). Between Rhetoric and Reality: Real-world Barriers to Uptake and Early Engagement in Digital Mental Health Interventions. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 31(2).
Jardine, J., Bowman, R., & Doherty, G. (2022). Digital Interventions to Enhance Readiness for Psychological Therapy: Scoping Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(8).
Jardine, J., (2022). Sitting With the Soft Chaos of Subjective Experience. In Proceedings of CHI ‘22 Workshop: The State of the CHI(Art) . ACM, New York, NY, USA.
Jardine, J., Hanratty, M., Doherty., G. (2022). Real world barriers to uptake in digital mental health interventions: A mixed methods, exploratory study. In Proceedings of CHI ‘22 Workshop: Designing Ecosystems for Complex Health Needs. ACM, New York, NY, USA.
Richards, D., Enrique, A., Palacios, J., Eliert, N., Duffy, D., Doherty, G., Jardine, J., Vigano, N., & Tierney, K. (2022). SilverCloud Health: Online mental health and wellbeing platform. In Digital Therapeutics: Scientific, Statistical, Clinical, and Regulatory Aspects. CRC press.
Jardine, J., Earley, C., Richards, D., Timulak, L., Palacios, J. E., Duffy, D., Tierney, K., & Doherty, G. (2020, April). The experience of guided online therapy: A longitudinal, qualitative analysis of client feedback in a naturalistic RCT. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, New York, NY, USA.
Blogs
How do you solve a problem like engagement? Using product principles to navigate tensions in digital mental health design 
Developing Product Principles for Digital Mental Health 
User experiences of guided online therapy: Results from a longitudinal, qualitative analysis 
The challenges of COVID-19 and how to deal with them 
The Art of the Metaphor: Exploring user mental models for digital mental health interventions
Papers & books I like
Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer. Chelsea Green Publishing.
Capra, F. (1996) The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. Anchor Books.
Møller, J. E. (2010). Lack of motivation as suffering. In The role of chronic pain and suffering in contemporary society. Tidsskrift for Forskning i Sygdom og Samfund. 7(13).
Foulkes, L., & Andrews, J. L. (2023). Are mental health awareness efforts contributing to the rise in reported mental health problems? A call to test the prevalence inflation hypothesis. New Ideas in Psychology, 69, 101010.
Sicart, M., & Shklovski, I. (2020). ‘Pataphysical Software: (Ridiculous) Technological Solutions for Imaginary Problems. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS ’20). ACM, New York, NY, USA.
Lomas, T. (2018). The quiet virtues of sadness: A selective theoretical and interpretative appreciation of its potential contribution to wellbeing. New Ideas in Psychology, 49, 18-26.
Brinkmann, S. (2016). Diagnostic cultures: A cultural approach to the pathologization of modern life. Routledge.
Keyes, O., Hutson, J., & Durbin, M. (2019). A mulching proposal: Analysing and improving an algorithmic system for turning the elderly into high-nutrient slurry. In Extended abstracts of the 2019 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, New York, NY, USA.
Sabie, S., Soden, R., Jackson, S., & Parikh, T. (2023). Unmaking as Emancipation: Lessons and Reflections from Luddism. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, New York, NY, USA.