SyMptOMS Project
Sensor and MObile based Mental Health Solutions
SyMptOMS is a research project that marries the technical expertise of the GeoSpatial Technologies
Research Lab (GEOTEC)
with the knowledge in experimental psychology of the Laboratory of Psychology and Technology (LABPSITEC)
to develop
innovative solutions for the diagnosis, treatment, and relapse prevention of mental health disorders.
Hereby, the
fundamental observation and starting point is the fact that, despite its enormous potential, the use of
geospatial and
mobile technologies for mental health is insufficiently researched and used in practice.
In SyMptOMS, we therefore
investigate how the current capabilities of modern mobile phones (e.g., GPS coordinates, built-in
sensors, environment
and context detection) and other wearable devices (e.g., smartwatch, sports bracelets, wearable and/or
embedded sensors,
etc.) may be used and exploited to modernise or develop new psychological assessment and interventions.
In a first phase
of the project, the focus is particularly on mobile phones applied for so-called ecological momentary
assessment and
interventions, whereby the patient’s location and behaviour are monitored in order to deliver in-situ
and real-time
interventions. In a later phase, the developed solutions will be extended to include contextual
information through
wearables and context-aware analysis.
The project was initiated end 2017 with GEOTEC’s own funding. In September 2018,
an FPU scholarship was granted on the topic, and in the course of 2019, external funds were awarded from
the Ministry of
Science, Innovation and Universities.
SyMptOMS is aimed to be a configurable and extensible mobile sensor- and wearable-based platform that allows therapists to define and configure momentary ecological assesments and interventions, which are delivered on the patient's smartphone. The platform itself is configurable with respect to data collection, analysis and visualization, and allows timely intervention actions to be specified based on captured data and data analysis results.
Funding and Grants
Coordinated project: Maximizing the efficacy of in vivo exposure therapy using smartphone-assisted just-in-time adaptive intervention for anxiety disorder
- Funder
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- Duration
- October 2023 – September 2027
Sub-project 1
Analyzing the benefits of using SyMptOMS-JIT for in vivo exposure in anxiety disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial using a mixed methods approach
- Grant
- PID2022-140475OB-C21
- PI
- Juana Maria Bretón López
Sub-project 2
SyMptOMS-JIT: Just-in-Time Sensor-based mHealth Development Framework applied to In Vivo Exposure in Anxiety Disorders
- Grant
- PID2022-140475OB-C22
- PI
- Sven Casteleyn, Carlos Granell
Sensor and mobile based mental health solutions: exposure therapy
- Funder
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- Grant
- PID2020-120250RB-I00
- Duration
- September 2021 – August 2023
- PI
- Carlos Granell (carlos.granell@uji.es) & Sven Casteleyn (sven.casteleyn@uji.es)
Programa grups d'investigació actius en captació de recursos pla estatal I+D+i, codi grup 249
- Funder
- Universitat Jaume I
- Grant
- GACUJI/2021/08 21I100.01/1
- Duration
- January 2021 – December 2021
- PI
- Carlos Granell (carlos.granell@uji.es) & Sven Casteleyn (sven.casteleyn@uji.es)
Sensor and mobile based mental health solutions (SyMptOMS)
- Funder
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
- Grant
- RTI2018-099939-B-I00
- Duration
- January 2019 – December 2020
- PI
- Carlos Granell (carlos.granell@uji.es) & Sven Casteleyn (sven.casteleyn@uji.es)