Depression treatment platform business plan

Abstract

The number of depression patients is increasing at a fast pace. In this case, the first word that comes to many people’s minds about these patients is the treatment offered at Srithanya Hospital or Lhung Car Dang. The statistics show that there are 1.7 million people in Thailand, of which 1 million are teenagers while another 700,000 are non-teenagers. This shows that the number seems to be increasing among young people. Despite the high rate of depression cases, the type of treatment method seems to be ineffective. This is because people are still afraid of letting others know their symptoms and decide not to take the treatment. However, unlike those of other illnesses, depression treatment does not require any physical meetup. This means that the introduction of an online platform for depression treatment can be a possible successful business in depression treatment. This paper studied the behavior of potential customers, who were those who have a risk of depression in order to see their perceptions toward the online medication which would help guide the direction of the business. Moreover, it also helped validate whether the assumption of the business plan was correct. This paper did not only research potential customers but also the potential partners, including doctors in order to see whether they agree with the business idea and potential for successful treatment. In terms of the research method, it included interviews and questionnaires. The interview offered insights into the attitudes of the doctors toward the treatment method which were conducted with 15-20 candidates. The questionnaire would disclose the marketing preferences of the potential customers and their perceptions toward the business idea. This helped collect the quantitative data and inform the potential customer's true needs. The questionnaire was collected from 400 respondents. The result from the questionnaire showed that most patients did not want to go to the hospital because they were afraid of people judging, so online platforms might be a better alternative for them. Moreover, the result of the interview showed that most doctors and therapists agree that online medication can be applied to mental health treatment without limitations. Implication of the thematic paper: The findings from this research study will help the company learn about the customers need and marketing preference which will tell the action that the company should do in order to meet the customers need and come up with the final products attractive to the potential customers. Moreover, it will also inform the company target customers and market size which will then imply the strategy the company should apply.