Culturally sensitive approaches in digital mental health research: lessons learned from co-developing the core mental health dataset.

Cultural sensitivity is central to ethical and valid mental health research, yet we observed it is often insufficiently embedded in digital research tools. Drawing on qualitative work conducted during the co-development of the Core Mental Health Dataset (CMHDS), this commentary reflects on the practical challenges we encountered and the considerations which shaped our approach to culturally sensitive data collection in digital mental health research. We synthesise insights from a lived experience advisory group, recognising how our interpretations were informed through dialogue with participants, focusing on mental health terminology, perceptions of mental health and ethical considerations in research. This paper shares lessons learned from co-developing the CMHDS and advocates for culturally sensitive digital approaches to improve acceptability, inclusivity, and data quality. We emphasises the requirement of sustained co-production and ongoing reflexive design practices in addressing cultural sensitivity in digital mental health research.