AR
UR
On Monday the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) announced the highlights around an upcoming mental health app called ‘Mindspire’ at the ‘UAE Innovates’ event at Expo 2020 Dubai.
The application is currently in the final phases of development. It has been developed by students from the American University of Sharjah. The app has won the first price at DHA’s Health Hackathon in 2019. Since then, students have been working in collaboration with the team at DHA to enhance the app features for helping diagnose and treating patients with depression.
The app is created with aim to help individuals suffering from depression or those wanting a preliminary screening. It also aids in alleviating their symptoms, focusing on anonymity and minimal user intervention.
How it works
The app aims to conduct a non-intrusive analysis in continuation by collecting and consolidating the data that is readily available on user’s smartphone, such as general usage, specific application usage (in terms of frequency, duration and active times of the day), typing speed, emoji usage and spell-checks. It is to be noted that text, calls, social media presence information is not monitored to preserve their privacy.
The only user inputs which are required are the daily logging of their thoughts and feelings into the journal made available on the app (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) through voice notes. They need to mention their general mood by using a colour wheel (Ekman’s Atlas of Emotion) or with a series of Socratic questioning (CBT recommended method).
Machine learning algorithms are then used to sense the tone and relate a mood with journal entries and also reveal repetitive thinking patterns. This information along with the background analysis can find an individual’s biorhythms, identify periods of declining mental health, recognise times when the person is generally showing a more productive behaviour and provide personalised recommendations based on the condition severity.
Updates incorporated
Dr Ayesha Al Basti, a family medicine consultant and vice-chairman of the Mental Health Committee at the DHA’s primary health care sector, mentioned that the app has undergone multiple updates since the development of the concept. Some latest updates include use of voice notes to put in the daily inputs and voice tonality recognition.
She highlighted that DHA is inclined towards using smart technologies for further improving patient care as well as empowering patients to take better care of themselves through daily smart monitoring and technology.
Movies and workouts
She added that those with milder cases of depression will be advised and encouraged to take therapy sessions, along with recommendations like light-hearted movies, comedy shows, uplifting music and workout routines.
On the other hand, those on the higher spectrum will be directly guided for a professional contact and book an appointment with a specialist doctor. Dr Basti said the team was currently developing care pathways for ensuring that every patient gets the right treatment, support and care. He underlined that mental health and wellbeing is crucial for every individual. She reiterated that such apps help in providing support to patients suffering from depression while guaranteeing confidentiality and support.
SOURCE: Gulf News