On September 6th, after a warm summer, the Belgian eMen partners Pulso and Thomas More welcomed everyone interested in "Trends and technical development of apps in mental healthcare" in Geel. During this half day seminar the audience was informed about the latest evolutions and more technical aspects of e-mental health developments.
The seminar was officially opened by the Director of Research of Thomas More, Dr. Joan De Boeck followed by two interesting keynote presentations. The first keynote speaker, Prof. Dr. Kristof van Laerhoven (University of Siegen), presented “Smoking Detection as a Case Study for Monitoring Human Behaviours”, whereasthe second keynote speaker, Artur Rocha (INESC TEC), provided an insight in the development of the Moodbuster application.
The keynote presentations were followed by a more hands-on part. The participants were invited to participate in workshops where existing applications were presented and demonstrated. As this seminar had a focus on the technical part of e-mental health, the workshops also zoomed in on these aspects, more specifically: “How does an app empower youngsters to regulate tension and how does an app increase joy of living in vulnerable people?” by Wil Wintjens (Ivengi), “Measurement of stress; subjective versus objective data” by Annelies Goris (IMEC), “Innovative EAP Tools: EAP online, HappyCare & APPA Tool” by Charlotte Van den Broucke & Dirk Antonissen (Pulso) and “Wearable technology for mental health care: Outcomes and challenges within the carewear project” by Romy Sels & Nele De Witte (Thomas More).
