Towards Accessible Mental Healthcare through Augmented Reality and Self-Assessment Tools

Victoria Lush,Christopher Buckingham,Suzanne Edwards,Ulysses Bernardet

doi:10.3991/ijoe.v16i04.12095

Victoria Lush, Christopher Buckingham + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v16i04.12095

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Abstract

<p class="0abstractCxSpFirst">Mental health presents a growing public health concern worldwide with mental illnesses affecting people’s quality of life and causing an economic impact on societies. The rapidly increasing demand for mental healthcare is calling for new ways of disseminating mental health knowledge and for supporting people with mental health illnesses. As an alternative to traditional mental health therapies and treatments, mental health self-assessment and self-management tools become widely available to the public. While such tools can potentially offer more timely personalised support, individuals seeking help are faced with the challenge of making an appropriate choice from an exhaustive number of online tools, mobile apps, and support programs.</p><p class="0abstractCxSpLast">In this article, we present myGRaCE – a self-assessment and self-management mental health tool made accessible to users via Augmented Reality technologies. The advantage of the system is that it provides a direct pathway to relevant and reliable mental health resources and offers a positive incentive and interventions for at-risk users. The system offers service users the resources to gain a better understanding of their mental state and increase control of their mental health conditions via self-monitoring and self-help.</p>

Highlights

Worldwide mental health illnesses are increasingly impacting peoples’ quality of living and national economies
We present myGRaCE – a self-assessment and self-management mental health tool made accessible to users via Augmented Reality technologies
While not all suicides and suicide attempts are directly caused by underlying mental health disorders, it is estimated that nearly 85% of suicides in North America, Western Europe and Australia and 68% in China, India and Taiwan are attributable to mental and substance use disorders [4]

Summary

Introduction

Worldwide mental health illnesses are increasingly impacting peoples’ quality of living and national economies. In 2017, nearly 4 per cent of people were affected by depression and anxiety disorders worldwide [2]. Mental ill-health is wide-ranging with different symptoms and severity and is generally characterised by abnormal thoughts, emotions, behaviour, relationships with others, or a combination of these [5]. Common examples of such disorders include anxiety, panic attacks, depression, schizophrenia, phobias, personality disorders, obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [5]. Mental health disorders are universal and can affect individuals of all ages and gender, from different backgrounds, societies and environment, with different levels of income and quality of life

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