AffecTech showcases innovative mental health technology

Members of the public and healthcare professionals have tried out innovative wearables technologies for mental health being developed as part of the AffecTech project.

They were able to test the cutting-edge technologies at a special event in Lancaster, UK held to mark Mental Health Awareness Week.

The public engagement event was organised by the Lancaster University team of the AffecTech project – a four-year research initiative that’s developing new digital tools to help people with depression, anxiety and bipolar.

Attendees included professionals from the health and technology sectors, as well as leading mental health charities such as Mind and Anxiety UK.

“This was an enjoyable opportunity for public and professionals to learn more about, and have hands-on experience of new wearable technologies for mental health that we are developing here in Lancaster,” said Corina Sas, Professor of Digital Health at Lancaster University, who also leads the AffecTech project.

Professor Sas said: “Affective disorders, such as stress, depression and bipolar conditions, are estimated to be among the highest ranking causes of disease by 2020. The potential social impact of wearable health devices for people with these disorders is vast because emotional awareness and regulation are invaluable for daily functioning.

“Our project marks a significant shift from current wearable technologies that capture emotional responses that then need interpreting by health professionals, towards low-cost self-help technologies for visualising, exploring and regulating emotions that people may be able to use in their daily lives.”

Coordinated by Lancaster University, the AffecTech project contributes cutting-edge research and development into wearable systems for emotion regulation.

The international project has been gathering momentum, with its research recognised at the prestigious CHI 2019 Human-Computer Interaction Conference, and Designing Interactive Systems DIS 2019 Conference:

Exploring and Designing for Memory Impairments in Depression
http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/130241/1/Qu_accepted_CHI_19.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300740

HCI and Affective Health: Taking stock of a decade of studies and charting future research directions
http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/130240/1/hci_affective_health.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300475

Dynamic Displays at Wrist for Real Time Visualization of Affective Data
http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/124394/1/DIS_WIP_FINAL.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1145/3197391.3205436

Towards Affective Chronometry: Exploring smart materials and actuators for real-time representations of changes in arousal
http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/132485/1/DIS_Camera_Ready_Final.p...

The former explores how innovations in personal health technologies could release sufferers from the torment of depression, by logging positive memories and combating memory impairments.

AffecTech

AffecTech was established with support from the European Commission’s research and innovation agency, Horizon 2020 via the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks.

AffecTech Consortium: Lancaster University, UK (coordinator); Kungliga Tekniska Hoegskolan, Sweden; Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; University of Oxford, UK; Universita Di Pisa, Italy; Universitat Jaume I De Castellon, Spain; Universita Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore, Italy; Bogazici Universitesi, Turkey; Philips Electronics, Netherlands; The Leeds Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Trust, UK; Plux - Wireless Biosignals, Portugal.

For more information visit: www.affectech.org

Press & Communications

Image: Lancaster University AffecTech researcher Claudia Dauden organises headsets during her workshop session on wearables technologies and mindfulness, at Lancaster’s Storey arts centre in May 2019.

Professor Corina Sas is available for interview along with other members of the AffecTech team.

For press enquiries contact Alan Cole: a.m.cole@lancaster.ac.uk; +44 (0)7523 802273.

https://twitter.com/Affec_Tech
https://www.linkedin.com/company/affectech

Source: Lancaster University School of Computing and Communications