DeePsy app terms and conditions

Welcome to the DeePsy app (the “App”). The App is currently under development. You have been registered with this App by your therapist - Therapist's Name. (In this App, “therapist” is to be understood as a person who has either completed systematic training in psychotherapy/counselling or someone who is a psychotherapy/counselling trainee working under regular supervision.) Please review the following information and acknowledge your acceptance of your registration with the App. Please contact us with any questions.

The App is part of an applied research project entitled Deep learning in psychotherapy , which is being conducted by the University of Technology in Brno ("VUT") and the Masaryk University ("MU"). It is supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (Project No.: TL03000049). The main investigators of the project are Ing. Pavel Matějka, Ph.D. (VUT) and doc. Mgr. Tomáš Řiháček, Ph.D. (MU).

Overview

  • You will be asked to regularly fill out short online surveys designed to provide feedback to your therapist.
  • Surveys will contain questions about your personal demographic data, your current life situation, what you are expecting to get out of the therapy, your assessment of your current state of mind and your view of the therapeutic process.
  • The primary recipient of this data will be your therapist. The data can also be used for other research and development purposes; however, in this case the data will first be anonymized (i.e., your identifying information will be removed).
  • You can revoke your consent to the processing of your personal data and your registration with the App at any time.

1. How the App works

This App is being designed with two goals in mind. One is to help the therapist better monitor and understand how your therapy is going (Is it helping you better cope with your everyday life? Are you better able to handle the problems you came to the therapist for help with and are they going away? What are your current thoughts about the course of the therapy and are there parts you are particularly satisfied or dissatisfied with?). The second goal is related to the first in that the survey feedback helps the therapist improve the quality of the services they are delivering to their clients, making adjustments as needed. It can also help your therapist in the early identification of possible complications and the providing of solutions.

1.1 What does this mean for you?

Your therapist will register you as their client under their user ID. He or she will be regularly sending you requests to fill out short questionnaires through the App. The initial survey questionnaire may take approximately 15–20 minutes. You will also receive a very short survey (1–2 minutes) prior to and after each session with your therapist. A final survey may be sent after the conclusion of your course of treatment, and, sometime later, there may be yet another survey (via email). These will allow your therapist to evaluate the longer-term effectiveness of the treatment.

All survey questions can be answered electronically (i.e., on your computer, tablet or smartphone). You may be asked to fill out the surveys in person during a therapy session or via an email with a link. The results of the surveys will then be made available to your therapist. He or she can explain these results to you and answer any questions you may have.

1.2. What kind of questions are in these surveys?

The App only collects data necessary for your registration, feedback information for therapists, and data to be used for the purposes of research and ongoing improvements to the App (see below). The survey questions are looking for the following types of data:

  • basic demographic data (gender, birth year, highest level of education completed, nationality);
  • current lifestyle and medication (e.g., do you live alone or with a partner; are you currently using any psychiatric medications);
  • therapy expectation information (what are you expecting to get out of this course of therapy;
  • current state of mind (sense of well-being, extent of identified mental health issues),
  • your perception of the therapeutic process;
  • information about whether the therapy is covered or subsidized by your health insurance company, name of the company, and, if applicable, the name of any payment subsidy programme.

1.3. What if you don’t want to participate?

Your registration in the App is entirely voluntary and you can withdraw participation now or at any time later without giving a reason. Similarly, you can always refuse to complete a particular survey. If you later change your mind about your participation, you can ask your therapist to erase your data from the App at any time during the therapy or after its completion. You will also have the option to revoke your consent via an interactive link sent to you by email. Revoking your consent will not in any way impact the availability or quality of the psychotherapeutic care being provided to you.

2. Handling of your personal data

2.1. Use of your data for DeePsy research and development

For the purposes of the DeePsy App, your answers to survey questionnaires will be what is referred to as "pseudonymized" (i.e., identified only by a numeric code); the researchers will, therefore, be unable to identify you from these data. As noted above, you will have the option to revoke your consent to the use of your data by removing your data from the App – either on your own or with the assistance of your therapist. In such a situation, all previously stored data will be erased.

2.2. Use of your data for other research and statistical purposes

When exported from the App, your answers to survey questionnaires can be "anonymized" (i.e., any ability to relate the data to a specific individual will be lost). Once anonymized, this information may be used in follow-on projects in basic and applied research, dissertation and thesis projects, academic publications and conference presentations by MU and VUT staff, and for preparing summary reports (e.g., on the effectiveness of provided care for the purposes of various insurance company programmes.

It should be noted that while your personal data can be removed from the App at any time at your request, once the anonymized data has been exported for use in other research, this exported data cannot be retrieved or removed.

2.3. Processing and protection of your personal data

This section contains additional, more detailed information about what personal data we collect, who processes it and where it is stored, and information about your legal rights with respect to the processing of this data.

Show details

2.3.1. Personal data processed in the App:

  • name;
  • email address;
  • basic demographic data (gender, birth year, highest level of education completed, nationality);
  • responses to survey questions.

2.3.2. The following institutions are the joint data controllers of the information collected within the App:

  • Vysoké učení technické v Brně ("VUT"), Antonínská 548/1, 601 90 Brno, Czech Republic; contact person: Ing. Pavel Matějka, Ph.D.; phone: +420 541 141 283; email: matejkap@vut.cz; Data Protection Officer contact: poverenec@vut.cz
  • Masarykova univerzita ("MU"), Žerotínovo nám. 617/9, 601 77 Brno, Czech Republic; contact person: doc. Mgr. Tomáš Řiháček, Ph.D.; phone: +420 549 494 871; email: rihacek@fss.muni.cz; Data Protection Officer contact: poverenec@muni.cz

2.3.3. Storage, security and data access

The data collected within the App is stored on VUT’s server. It is only accessible to those persons involved in working on the Deep learning in psychotherapy project (TL03000049). This includes relevant IT staff. All those with data access are bound by strict mandatory confidentiality rules. The App stores your name and email in an encrypted form.

Your therapist has access to all of your App data. He or she can share selected parts with another therapist (typically in situations in which both are involved in your therapy). Such data sharing is done only with your consent.

2.3.4. Data retention period

The App data is primarily intended for your therapist. For this reason, it will be stored in the App until you or your therapist request removal of your data and/or until the operation of the App is terminated.

2.3.5. You have the following rights related to the processing of your personal data:

  • to request access to your personal data; to request that corrections be made to information contained in your personal data; to request the erasure of your personal data; to request the setting of limitations on the processing of your personal data;
  • to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority (the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection ) if you believe your data is being processed in an unlawful manner;
  • to withdraw your consent to the processing of personal data, as provided below, with no risk of any resulting sanctions or other distinct disadvantages. You can withdraw your consent through an interactive link sent to the email address provided on registration in the App or through your therapist. Your withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of the processing of data prior to your consent withdrawal.

3. Your consent to your registration in the App and the related processing of your personal data