Laboratories to Optimize Digital Health

Laboratories to Optimize Digital Health is sponsored by NIH NIMH. Supports the development and optimization of digital mental health interventions to enhance their reach, efficiency, and effectiveness.

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Call or Text 988 Transforming the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses. Home|Help for Mental Illnesses * Mental Health Information ## Health Topics NIMH offers expert-reviewed information on mental disorders and a range of topics. ## Statistics NIMH statistics pages include statistics on the prevalence, treatment, and costs of mental illness for the population of the United States.

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## Clinical Trials If you or a friend or family member are thinking about taking part in clinical research, this page contains basic information about clinical trials. ## Stakeholder Engagement Find out how NIMH engages a range of stakeholder organizations as part of its efforts to ensure the greatest public health impact of the research we support.

## Research Funded by NIMH NIMH supports research at universities, medical centers, and other institutions via grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. Learn more about NIMH research areas, policies, resources, and initiatives. ## Research Conducted at NIMH (Intramural Research Program) The Division of Intramural Research Programs (IRP) is the internal research division of the NIMH.

Over 40 research groups conduct basic neuroscience research and clinical investigations of mental illnesses, brain function, and behavior at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Learn more about research conducted at NIMH. ## Priority Research Areas Learn about NIMH priority areas for research and funding that have the potential to improve mental health care over the short, medium, and long term.

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gov%2Ffunding%2Fgrant-writing-and-application-process%2Fconcept-clearances%2F2024%2Flaboratories-to-optimize-digital-health) # Laboratories to Optimize Digital Health Division of Services and Intervention Research The goal of this concept is to continue to foster research collaborations between academic researchers and digital health technology developers to test strategies to increase the reach, efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of digital mental health interventions.

Research is also needed to optimize existing technology and understand factors related to engagement and sustainability of digital health platforms. Digital health technology offers unprecedented opportunities to help consumers, clinicians, and researchers measure, manage, and improve health.

These tools also have the potential to improve our understanding of mental illness across the lifespan, track the course of illnesses and recovery, and provide and enhance mental health care. Most importantly, digital health interventions offer the potential to bridge the treatment gap and provide evidence-based interventions to the many individuals who currently are unable to access treatment.

Over the last decade, NIMH has supported the development and testing of digital health technology, with a focus on establishing the efficacy of digital health assessments and interventions. This research has demonstrated that digital health technology can be used topassively monitor clinical states and reduce symptoms.

However, with few exceptions, most NIMH-funded research in digital health technology has focused on efficacy with less emphasis on effectiveness and dissemination. In contrast to the federally funded mental health research, the pace of commercial technology development moves rapidly. Over the last five years, commercially available digital health platforms for mental health have gained considerable traction in the marketplace.

Current estimates suggest thatgreater than 25% of commercially available digital health apps focus on mental health and a significant cross section of consumers are regularly utilizing digital health technology to access treatment for mental health.

As digital health technology for mental health is being increasingly used to provide standalone self-managed interventions and/or to supplement in-person treatment, well-designed research is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of existing digital health technology. This initiative would encourage research that promotes partnerships between academic investigators digital health companies.

These partnerships will enable research to be conducted with large samples of participants and will leverage existing digital health platform infrastructure. It is expected that these partnerships will enable both nimble studies to rapidly test ideas and conduct exploratory research as well pragmatic trials of digital health interventions.

The general scope of research would include developing and testing: * Strategies to increase the reach, efficiency, and quality of digital health interventions. * Factors related to engagement, uptake, and sustainability of digital health platforms. * The effectiveness of digital health platforms to optimize the benefit of in-person treatment and bridge therapy sessions and promote between-session skill practice/acquisition.

* Technology driven approaches to improve access/engagement and continuity of care during known periods of heightened risk (e.g., handoffs between emergency departments and inpatient psychiatric; transitions between primary care settings and outpatient mental health programs).

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