Descripción del proyecto
Una aplicación inteligente para fomentar las intervenciones en materia de salud mental
La salud y las enfermedades mentales son cuestiones de salud pública muy serias. Abordar los problemas de salud mental, que afectan a una tercera parte de la población, requiere intervenciones psicológicas y farmacológicas personalizadas. La nueva aplicación ACT-DL (Acceptance and Commitment in Daily Life) tiene como objetivo respaldar a los pacientes guiándoles siempre que lo necesiten en la vida real, amplía la terapia tradicional y permite que se acceda a ella fácilmente. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos IMPACT adaptará ACT-DL para el entorno clínico. El proyecto probará la aplicación en un entorno clínico con el fin de demostrar su viabilidad e integración y elaborará un modelo de negocio para centrarse en los pacientes que necesitan apoyo diario en su terapia.
Objetivo
Mental health problems constitute a major individual, family and public health concern, affecting up to 30% of the population. Yet, both pharmacological and psychological interventions only reach modest effect sizes. There is a need for new and better personalised interventions. In my ERC 'INTERACT' project, we adopted a mobile Health (mHealth) approach for the treatment of psychotic disorder. We developed ACT-DL (Acceptance and Commitment in Daily Life), an app that complement face-to-face ACT sessions with ACT exercises in real-life, guiding individuals in the application of ACT in real-time. This mHealth approach a) extends the therapy beyond the clinical setting into real life, b) makes therapy more widely available, and c) provides therapy at specific moments of need.
The problem that remains to be addressed in this Proof-of-Concept project is to bring ACT-DL to the clinical market. In IMPACT, we aim to transform the research app into a clinical ACT-DL app that can be implemented in a naturalistic clinical setting. In order to do that, we will: 1) adapt the ACT-DL app according to the feedback of the clinicians so that it reaches the flexibility needed in clinical practice, 2) develop an implementation strategy plan focusing on integration of ACT-DL in the existing health care infrastructure (data safety, data privacy, data integration and long-term sustainability) and on clinical uptake by clinicians, 3) run an implementation pilot to test acceptability, feasibility and generalisability, and 4) develop a business model. The implementation of ACT-DL in the naturalistic clinical setting will have clear societal and economic impact as it will improve the effectivity of treatment while we give patients a tool to help themselves. Furthermore, as very little mHealth approaches have been integrated in the clinical pathways of care within psychiatry, it will inform policy makers on the further development of mHealth approaches in this field.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantInstitución de acogida
3000 Leuven
Bélgica