Care and Well-being - People and Well-being

Psychology and technology

Project

Digital Mental Health

The use of technology within mental health care received an unexpected and abrupt boost as a result of the Corona crisis. In particular, image calling was massively adopted, in a sector that had previously been extremely reluctant to look at technology applications. The turnaround revealed frustrations and gaps, but also offers potential. Many social workers are at first exploring different forms of technology, although they note that desired applications are often still lacking or that deploying applications within a Flemish context often requires (literally and figuratively) translation work.

Date

From until

Supported by

Onderwijs Vlaanderen (PWO)

Within the Psychology and Technology research line, extensive expertise has already been built up around the possibilities offered by technology and the methodologies with which it can be best used. As part of this PWO project, concrete practical applications are being set up in both the short and medium term. On the one hand, we can immediately make use of our existing expertise, but on the other hand, the various activities that are being set up with academic and work field partners also aim to further research the theoretical foundations and general evidence of these approaches, in order to allow the Flemish sectors of welfare and mental health to make better use of technological applications.

Goal

The diversity of technology forms translates into several lines of research, specifically

1. the implementation and uptake of 2 online applications (mPath & FamilyLink) in practice.
2. the substantiation of relevance and added value for wearables outside controlled lab settings.
3. optimise the ease of use and underpin the evidence base for emerging immersive technologies.
4. to optimise the existing training offer by both developing a new offer and to develop a methodology for training evaluation.

Related research lines