Digital Health is a rapidly evolving field, focused on using mobile and wearable devices to improve the diagnosis, management, and prevention of adverse health conditions. The Prechter Program has been conducting research in digital health for bipolar disorder for over a decade. We are focused on using these technologies to identify early warning signs to facilitate timely interventions.
Our collaborations across the University of Michigan with the Computer Science and Engineering Division, Eisenberg Family Depression Center, the Sleep and Circadian Research Lab, Precision Health, e-Health and Artificial Intelligence (e-HAIL), and the Department of Learning Health Sciences strengthen our digital health research initiatives. These partnerships have enabled researchers to develop groundbreaking technology and lead studies looking at how digital health technologies can help improve outcomes in mental health care and treatment. Our Program's long-term goals of digital health research is to provide innovative tools that people living with bipolar disorder can use to help manage their health and well-being.
Prechter Program Digital Health Initiatives include:
- PRIORI (Predicting Individual Outcomes for Rapid Intervention), a proprietary app and set of algorithms that analyze the sound waves of speech patterns and identify changes in a person's speech to predict mood fluctuations. Our most recent study with the app is PRIORI Ambient.
- LifeGoals, a smartphone application that provides a self-paced and comprehensive evidenced-based psychoeducation program for bipolar disorder.
- A comprehensive program of research that uses smartphone and wearable devices to identify early warning signs related to mood, behavior, and sleep and circadian changes in individuals with bipolar disorder.
"The question isn’t whether or not this technology is going to be used in healthcare and monitoring individuals with psychiatric illnesses. The question is really: How?"
-Melvin McInnis, M.D., Principal Investigator and Scientific Director
Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Program