Towards Accessible Mental Healthcare through Augmented Reality and Self-Assessment Tools

Abstract

<p class="0abstractCxSpFirst">Mental health presents a growing public health concern worldwide with mental illnesses affecting people’s quality of life and causing an economic impact on societies. The rapidly increasing demand for mental healthcare is calling for new ways of disseminating mental health knowledge and for supporting people with mental health illnesses. As an alternative to traditional mental health therapies and treatments, mental health self-assessment and self-management tools become widely available to the public. While such tools can potentially offer more timely personalised support, individuals seeking help are faced with the challenge of making an appropriate choice from an exhaustive number of online tools, mobile apps, and support programs.</p><p class="0abstractCxSpLast">In this article, we present myGRaCE – a self-assessment and self-management mental health tool made accessible to users via Augmented Reality technologies. The advantage of the system is that it provides a direct pathway to relevant and reliable mental health resources and offers a positive incentive and interventions for at-risk users. The system offers service users the resources to gain a better understanding of their mental state and increase control of their mental health conditions via self-monitoring and self-help.</p>

Mental health services in the metaverse: potential and concerns

“…The Metaverse may provide solutions to the issue of access, offering greater anonymity and overcoming geographical barriers. Those who are housebound, remote, disabled, isolated, or concerned about stigma may find care more easily in the Metaverse [8,13,14]. A single clinician may be able to amplify his or her reach through the use of avatars [4].…”

“…A single clinician may be able to amplify his or her reach through the use of avatars [4]. Artificial intelligence and wearable devices may offer lower-cost options for more independent assessment and monitoring of conditions [14]. The Metaverse may herald a transformation from information-based to experience-based mental health education, potentially improving efficacy, while immersive gamification may help promote healthy behaviour [13,15].…”

Scientific Publication Patterns of Interactive Mobile Technologies for Psychological, Social, Medical and Business Interventions for Mental and Physical Health: Bibliometric Analysis

“…Recent studies have explored the success of incorporating interactive mobile technologyintowell-beingprograms.Lushetal. [2]presentedaself-assessmentandselfmanagement mental health tool which might support individuals with mental illnesses in maintaining their life quality. McAlaney et al [14] explored cultural differences inacceptanceofapreventivedigitaladdictiontechnology.Thesignificantimpactof music playlists on the well-being model was indicated by Sice et al [15].…”

“…Recentstudiesonusinginteractivemobiletechnologiesinvariousfieldsindicatedits significantimpactonreceivedoutcomes [1].Technologyincreasesoverallmentaland physicalwell-being [2],enhancesgainingknowledgeandprofessionalcompetencies [3], and provides efficient opportunities to successfully deal with suicide [4], stress [5], addictions [6], [7], psychosis [8], [9], pain [10], cancer [11] etc. Although some studies on technology used in the mentioned fields have been conducted, there still remain unanswered questions.…”

Identification of Medical Ecosystems in the Field of Mental Health and Cardiovascular Diseases at the Cologne Site

“…The term ecosystem appears in the literature mainly in connection to the case of business and is usually related to some new technology, such as AI [10] or blockchain [11], related to some application area. It is also not uncommon at all to study disease categories with respect to the deployment of some technologies, such as the application of machine learning for cardiovascular diseases [12], [13], or the use of advanced technologies such as augmented reality for mental-healthcare interventions [14].…”