STTR Phase I: Implementation of a Biometric Data Software Platform to Augment Mental Health Treatment

这个小型企业技术转移（STTR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过客观的进展报告和会后激励，让患者从第一次治疗开始，从而改善结果并降低心理健康领域的成本。患者和临床医生都将能够通过自我报告和生理测量来跟踪和评估治疗进展。这种创新建立在强大的学术、政府和行业合作伙伴关系的基础上，这将推动生物技术领域的研究和创新。通过展示与技术利用相关的改善结果和降低成本，这将为保险报销（使用现有的CPT代码）铺平道路，以加速市场采用。此外，随着患者和公众对心理健康尤其是创伤后应激障碍的教育的提高，围绕这些疾病的负面污名将会减少，更多有需要的人将寻求帮助，而不是诉诸不健康的行为甚至自杀。这个STTR第一阶段项目建议代表一种创新的方法，为精神卫生提供者、患者和其他非技术用户提供易于解释的结果。目前的心理健康治疗和评估缺乏定性的、科学的测量方法。科学测量的必要性是显而易见的，因为大约8%的成年人——这个国家每13个人中就有1人——在他们的一生中会患上PTSD。目前，60%被诊断患有精神疾病的成年人没有接受心理健康治疗；利用实证科学和生理测量作为改善PTSD治疗和监测进展的基础，可以帮助减轻围绕精神疾病的一些耻辱感。本项目旨在通过向患者提供与生理相关的反馈，并为临床医生提供针对个体患者的治疗方法提供工具，来演示如何实施基于网络的平台来改善创伤后应激障碍治疗。在整个治疗过程中，患者的主观测量和生理数据将在软件平台上可视化，并通过有效的评估量表跟踪进展。患者将在治疗中与其他患者进行比较。结果将提高使用该平台的患者的生活质量并降低长期医疗保健费用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)project is to improve outcomes and decrease costs in the mental health space by engagingpatients starting with their first therapy session through objective progress reporting andpost-session motivation. Patients and clinicians alike will be able to track and assess treatmentprogress through self-reported and physiological measures. This innovation builds upon thestrong academic, government, and industry partnerships that will advance research andinnovation in the field of biotechnology. By demonstrating improved outcomes and decreasedcosts associated with the utilization of technology, this will pave the way for insurancereimbursement (using existing CPT codes) to accelerate market adoption. Additionally, aseducation of patients and the public improves regarding mental health and PTSD in particular,the negative stigma surrounding these conditions will decrease and more people in need willseek help rather than resorting to unhealthy behavior or even suicide.This STTR Phase I project proposes to represent an innovative approach that provides easy tointerpret results tailored to mental health providers, patients, and other non-technical users.Current mental health treatment and assessment has lacked qualitative, scientifically-basedmeasurement. The need for a scientific measurement is evident, as about 8 percent of alladults - 1 of 13 people in this country will develop PTSD during their lifetime. Currently, 60%of adults diagnosed with a mental illness don't receive mental health treatment; using provenscience and physiologic measurements as the foundation for improving treatment andmonitoring progress for PTSD can help to alleviate some of the stigma surrounding mentalillnesses. This project aims to demonstrate how implementing a web-based platform canimprove PTSD treatment by providing physiologically relevant feedback to the patient and byproviding a tool for the clinician to tailor the therapy to the individual patient. Patients will havetheir subjective measures and physiological data visualized throughout treatment on a softwareplatform, with progress being tracked through validated assessment scales. Patients will becompared to others in treatment as usual. Results should yield improved quality of life anddecrease long term healthcare costs for those that use the platform.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.