Experts from the SDG 3 health and well-being cluster analyze the rise of mental health problems and the contribution of digital health in helping to confront them.
On May 23, 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the challenges created by the health emergency, such as the increase in mental health problems, remain more than current. Given the difficulties that health systems are showing in responding to the increase in demand for mental health services, experts point out the importance of establish preventive measures and improve access to carefields in which digital health (e-health) can be of great help.
With the aim of delving deeper into this context and its challenges, the SDG 3 health and well-being cluster of the International Association of Universities, promoted by the eHealth Center of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), organized, on November 16, the webinar The mental health crisis: Building resilience in a changing world. The event was moderated by Marta Aymerich, director of the eHealth Center, and included the intervention of Hilligje Van’t Land, general secretary of the International Association of Universities.
“We are very happy and satisfied to have launched the global cluster on sustainable development goals. And the SDG 3 cluster, health and well-being, led by the UOC, is being very active, it is doing an extraordinary job to address the key issues that have arisen since the emergence of COVID-19 in our lives,” said Hilligje Van’t Land at the opening of the webinar.
As experts and members of the institutions that make up the SDG 3 health and well-being cluster, they participated in the online event Carlos Contrerasprofessor and researcher at the Department of Sociology of the Metropolitan Autonomous University of Mexico; Diana Setiyawatidirector of the Center for Public Mental Health and leader of the Mental Health working group at Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia; scar Mauricio Castao Ramrezpsychiatrist at the Department of Mental Health and Human Behavior at the University of Caldas in Colombia; Sofia Seinfeldresearcher and professor of the Psychology and Educational Sciences Studies at the UOC, and Tania Perichresearcher and professor at the School of Psychology at the University of Western Sydney in Australia.
These are the five big keys that their interventions on mental health and digital health left us, important lessons to strengthen resilience, or adaptive capacity, at an individual, family and community level and improve attention to psychological and emotional well-being.
1. The importance of finding the right tool
During the hardest part of the pandemic, the Center for Public Mental Health (CPMH) at Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia detected a rapid increase in the level of stress and anxiety among a significant portion of their students. To mitigate this, they created a telephone service, but the level of use was very low. They then decided to try a new approach and began to pay attention through Instagram chat. The response from the students was very positive, which demonstrated the importance of finding the appropriate digital tool for each context and community.
“After that we decided to try something that would generate even more engagement and the student body proposed creating a chatbot based on artificial intelligence“explains Diana Setiyawati, director of the CPMH. “The idea is to provide an automated care service that helps us detect mental health problems quickly and provide initial support. “We continue to develop it and right now we are trying to integrate it into the university system.”
2. Universities, social networks and the development of resilience
Mexico City is an unequal megacity, in which 50% of the population lives in poverty and a small percentage concentrates most of the wealth. But the pandemic proved that health problems are not something for rich or poor, they are transversal, and that the resilience development It requires the collaboration of everyone. In this context, Mexican universities played a central role. They served as a meeting point and provided mental health services, both patient care and training for professionals.
“At the Metropolitan Autonomous University we have launched a program to study how social media can help to reinforce this resilience even more,” says Carlos Contreras, professor and researcher in the Department of Sociology at the Mexican university. “Increasing community resilience helps us reduce the prevalence of anxiety and depression. To do this, we need to have models that understand that resilience is a process; “We need profiles with influence in the community and, especially, with the youngest people to get involved.”
3. Digital health to increase access to mental health
After decades of armed conflict, Colombia is one of the countries in Latin America with the highest incidence of mental health disorders. According to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, almost one in two minors has a psychological problem, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety and depression are the most prevalent. These disorders especially affect the rural and isolated population, who lives in areas with limited infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic only further complicated this context.
“After the pandemic, the use of mental health services increased by 30%. Rates of depression and suicide attempts are worse now than before COVID-19. In an attempt to improve these conditions, from the University of Caldas we are implementing some alternatives e-health to increase access to mental health care“says Oscar Mauricio Castao, psychiatrist at the Department of Mental Health of this university. Among other actions, telemedicine services have been implemented in rural areas, mobile applications are being developed to assess the mood of each person and services are being applied. treatment for young people with problematic substance use based on acceptance and commitment therapies and full attention therapies.
4. Challenges of maintaining the use of digital tools over time
“We know that young people experience high levels of stress, anxiety and depression. In Australia, the Government has dedicated a lot of funding to developing apps and online platforms to improve access to mental care services among younger people. However, Our research tells us that the use of these tools is much lower than one would expect“explains Tania Perich, researcher and senior lecturer at the School of Psychology at the University of Western Sydney.
According to the researcher, a majority of young people try online applications and platforms (with a clear preference for meditation applications), but few continue to use these services over time. “Beyond the usage data and the averages, what we have to think about is that many young people are not receiving the care or treatment they needneither face to face nor online,” adds Tania Perich.
5. Virtual reality and artificial intelligence: the role of emerging technologies
Trends in e-health are marked, to a large extent, by the development of technology. And there are two increasingly important emerging elements in the field of digital health: virtual reality and artificial intelligence. “We have known for a long time that Virtual reality is a powerful therapeutic tool. “It allows people to experience a very strong sense of presence, that is, it allows you to feel that you are really in the virtual environment and provides experiences that are difficult to generate in the real world,” says Sofa Seinfeld, professor of Psychology Studies. UOC Educational Sciences.
Among other use cases, Sofia worked on how virtual reality has been used in rehabilitation therapies for people who had abused their partner or a minor or to study ways to reduce the level of racism. In addition, combined with artificial intelligence tools, research on the development of automated therapists that could support mental health care services and contribute to meeting the high demand that currently exists.
Beyond the importance of technologies, the role of e-health in improving mental health care or the new challenges presented by digital health, all participants in the webinar The mental health crisis: Building resilience in a changing world agreed on something else: more research and more collaboration is needed between institutions and universities to find answers to the challenges of the present and the future.
“Today we have witnessed how the fusion of different technologies and perspectives can be very important for build resilience in a changing world“concludes Marta Aymerich, director of the eHealth Center. “The great transformative potential of digital solutions in mental health lies in transcending geographical barriers. Let’s take the debate beyond the screens and continue to encourage collaborative efforts that prioritize inclusion. “The challenges are universal and cooperation is our greatest strength.”
