Adaptive Technology in Mental Health

Technology has open new domains in data collection and mental health. The uniqueness of mental health makes it difficult to successfully make technology that collaborates with human behavior and creates positive outcomes and measurement. People who have mental illness can have problem processing, comprehending, and acting appropriately on experiences and information. This is because their illness can affect mental functions such as initiative, attention, memory, the ability of planning, summing up information, and concentration. With awareness and advance research, there is potential to completely change the mental health environment for patients. There is a dramatic rise in interest in technological solutions for patients (F.Cuturi, Aggius-Vella, Campus, Parmiggiani, & Gori, 2016). Treatment of mental illness has come a long way, but science is still continuously pushing the boundaries of treatment. Modern technology is brought into medical procedures to help patients. Recent research has highlighted that technological strategies influence the performance of firms, and attention of professionals is on two types of strategies: first is adopting technologies and second is investing in those technologies that suit firm’s circumstances and needs (Deraniyagala, 2001). Because of system flaws and the stigma of mental illness which limits access to mental health care, patients want more affordable and fewer frustration solutions. It is generally known that people with mental illness do not utilize assistive technologies; there is also little empirical research to support this claim (Wehmeyer, 1995). Problems related to mental health are a major concern worldwide; technologies represent many opportunities for change in the mental health area. It can help people with mental health to live safely at home (Brims & Oliver, 2018).

Assistive technology is a term that includes rehabilitative, assistive, and adaptive devices for patients with disabilities. Adaptive technology is a growing mental health field, which can improve accessibility, affordability, and effectiveness of health care. It can be an innovative method to support individuals who have mental problems. Assistive technologies have been making significant contributions in helping people who are living with mental issues. Mobile application is helping researchers to track emotions, changes in lifestyles, and providing supplementing therapies. Use of electronic devices and related apps can help patients manage these issues and increase independence, productivity, and capabilities. Technology can lower barriers that are faced by people with mental disabilities. Adaptive technology substitute traditional “one for all” approach and have encouraged the development of dynamic environment; the use of this environment can benefit education by offering personalized learning based upon individual characteristics (Mulwa, Lawless, Sharp, Arnedillo-Sanchez, & Wade, 2010 ). Children with mental health issues demonstrate impairments in social skills including unusual patterns in social interactions. Several assistive technologies, virtual reality particularly have been invested by researchers to address these issues (Lahiri, Bekele, Dohrmann, Warren, & Sarkar, 2013). There are many ways technology can adoptively delivery instructions to people with mental illness, but it is not clear which methods will be more effective in terms of outcomes. There has been a lot of work on the theoretical part, there is a lack of implementation.

References

• Brims, L., & Oliver, K. (2018). Effectiveness of assistive technology in improving the safety of people with dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal Aging & Mental Health.

• Deraniyagala, S. (2001). Adaptive technology strategies and technical efficiency: Evidence from the Sri Lankan agricultural machinery industry. Journal of International Development, 13(1), 59-71.

• F.Cuturi, L., Aggius-Vella, E., Campus, C., Parmiggiani, A., & Gori, M. (2016). From science to technology: Orientation and mobility in blind children and adults. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 71, 240-251.

• Lahiri, U., Bekele, E., Dohrmann, E., Warren, Z., & Sarkar, N. (2013). Design of a Virtual Reality Based Adaptive Response Technology for Children With Autism. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 21(1), 55 – 64.

• Mulwa, C., Lawless, S., Sharp, M., Arnedillo-Sanchez, I., & Wade, V. (2010 ). Adaptive educational hypermedia systems in technology enhanced learning: a literature review. Proceedings of the 2010 ACM conference on Information technology education, (pp. 73-84).

• Wehmeyer, M. L. (1995). The use of assistive technology by people with mental retardation and barriers to this outcome: A pilot study. IOS Press, 4, 195-204.