Invitation to EYES – a 3-year European Research Project
Background
The convergence of sensor, mobile and persuasive technologies are offering new avenues
for therapeutic interventions in a number of fields. Cognitive support systems for children
diagnosed with autism have been an area of research for Aalborg University through a
number of years, and the research group is now ready to develop tools for practitioners
working in other fields as well.
To facilitate this development a new cooperation between Aalborg University and Aalborg
Psychiatric Hospital is taking form. The project group is presently making an application
for EU-funding to develop a 3-year research project.
Focus
The possibility of technological extensions of the therapeutic space is a poorly researched
area, and it is the focus of the proposed project. The aim is to develop a product that is
easily applicable to existing psychiatric practice by using technology to strengthen the
connection between the therapeutic meeting and the everyday life of the patient.
The advent of sophisticated yet inexpensive mobile platforms is a key factor in this new
way of thinking about distributed therapeutic interventions. With the possibility of adding
sensor arrays to measure psychophysical parameters while the patient is in his natural
environment and at the same time provide feedback in real-time, it is possible to create
smart applications that support patient development and motivation.
Frame of reference
The project takes as its departure point the framework of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
and Persuasive Technology. CBT is a widely used frame of reference for psychologically
based psychiatric treatment, while PT is a technologically driven pendant, which focuses
on changing behaviour positively through the use of persuasion, motivation and social
influence.
Target group
Self-tracking has become a term widely used for the activity of using one of the growing
amount of commercially available products that record physical and psychophysical data
such as heart rate variability, skin conductance and movement. The goal is to enhance
performance and wellbeing through detecting patterns in behaviour and then exerting
positive influence through consciousness raising and motivating feedback. There is only
very limited and preliminary efforts to develop specialized versions of these gadgets for
the more demanding population of core psychiatric patients.
The project at hand is targeting patients within the schizophrenia spectrum. A key aspect
is that psychopharmacological treatment is successful at treating symptoms such as
hallucinations and delusional thinking. Unfortunately the pharmacological treatment is
not effective against symptoms such as lack of motivation, anhedonia or problems with
initiating actions. This is very unfortunate because this last group of symptoms is central
to the prognosis and the possibility of a more complete recovery.
Cognitive therapists work with these problems, for example by using behavioural
techniques, activity planning, strengthening problem solving and enhancing motivation.
But a barrier to helping these patients is the very same lack of initiative, motivation and
executive functioning which is targeted, because it interferes with the patient’s ability to
register their everyday functioning and apply the strategies trained in the therapy, when
they are on their own.
Technological support for psychiatric treatment – the vision
The project includes participants with specialized knowledge within the fields of
communication technology, design, programming, clinical psychology and social
psychiatry. Taken together this makes it possible to develop a tool that uses state-of-the-art
sensor technology, mobile platforms and an intuitive and simple interface for use in a
clinical setting and with customizing options for the individual patient. The system is
designed for patients primarily within the schizophrenia spectrum, where negative
symptoms play an important role.
The possible functionality includes:
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Training in emotion recognition and mentalization
Monitoring of stress levels
Exercises using biofeedback (for example mindfulness based stress reduction)
Anticipation of high risk situations and relapse prevention
Gathering of psychophysiological data for treatment planning, evaluation and
research purposes
Interactive motivation enhancement
Extension of the therapeutic space into everyday life
Internet based possibilities for communication between health professionals and
patients
Partners wanted!
We’re searching for partners in other Nordic countries because of the structural
similarities between psychiatric treatments in these countries. Taken together these are
welfare states that ensure a basic level of affordances and provide consistent, high quality
services in medical, psychological and social areas.
The partnership will be centred on clinical aspects and testing of prototypes and access to
a patient population is important. Keywords for the cooperation include but are not
necessarily limited to:
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Description and development of functionality
Focus groups or similar for practitioners and patients
Clinical trials
Gathering of qualitative and quantitative data
Analysis and proposals for further development
Project call, timetable and budget
The call for proposals is ‘Objective ICT-2011.5.3 Patient Guidance’ and it can be accessed
at:
ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/wp/cooperation/ict/c-wp-201101_en.pdf - pages
66-68.
Deadline for application is 18. January 2011. If the funds are granted the project is
scheduled to start 1. September 2011. The project will be funded for 3 years and span
research, development and testing in natural settings.
The expected budget will be in an interval between 2 and 4 mill euro. An partner similar
testsite partner similar to Aalborg Psychiatric Hospital will be funded with between 3600.000 DKR for their activities in 3 years. Partners own contribution is 25%.
Management group
Neeli Prasad, Aalborg University, profile and contact:
http://personprofil.aau.dk/profil/111002
Morten Aagaard, Aalborg Universitet, profile and contact:
http://personprofil.aau.dk/profil/102017
Region Nordjylland
Hanne Lzütkow Kirk, project leader (Region Nordjylland) haluk@rn.dk / +45 96 35 15 50
Aalborg Psychiatric Hospital / Region Nordjylland
Ulrik Falentin Sund, leading psychologist (Aalborg Psykiatriske Sygehus), ufs@rn.dk / +45
96 31 14 46
Jonathan Led Larsen, psychologist (Aalborg Psykiatriske Sygehus), jll@rn.dk / +45 72 13 72
01 / + 45 61 68 31 18