e.magination Develops DSM-5 Site

Online, March 2, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Baltimore, MD. Tuesday, February 16, 2010.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has reached a historical milestone by launching www.dsm5.org, a 21st century tool for the dissemination of information and gathering, filtering and organizing worldwide public feedback for the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Developed by e.magination, this site enables APA to solicit the broadest possible feedback for this edition. The fifth edition represents the first DSM revision in a decade and is certain to impact the lives of millions.

The DSM is used by researchers as well as medical and mental health professionals to define and describe symptoms of mental illnesses. The manual provides a common language for medical professionals to communicate with one another, with patients, family members, insurance providers, governmental organizations and the legal system.

Jennifer Shupinka, Assistant Director, DSM Operations, American Psychiatric Association Division of Research said "It was imperative that we reach the broadest audience possible for feedback in a very short timeframe. e.magination understood our needs, created a concept and delivered a fantastic solution quickly and on budget. We are thrilled with the results."

Anticipating an unprecedented number of comments and wanting to carefully consider all viewpoints prior to completing the new manual, the APA has for the first time chosen to receive public, scholarly, and practitioner feedback directly. Using a new website and feedback management tools created specifically for this purpose, anyone in the world can provide feedback on the updates of more than 300 diagnoses by logging in to http://www.dsm5.org. The web site allows the reader to review the new criteria alongside the existing criteria with a simple navigation system.

The APA selected e.magination - Baltimore's largest and most prominent interactive design and development firm - who developed the solution in 6 weeks. e.magination assembled a team of user experience designers, information architects, visual designers and Microsoft Office SharePoint Services 2007 (MOSS) experts to achieve this ambitious schedule. Using user-centered design, rapid prototyping, and careful orchestration between MDs, PhDs, developers and designers the APA-e.magination partnership produced an elegant, easy-to-use and effective public commenting tool. According to e.magination CEO and Chairman Dan Roche, "Our approach to creating compelling user experiences enables our design and development teams to inherit the goals and missions of our clients and produce creative web tools and products that help revolutionize industries. The APA website is another example of e.magination at work."