Evaluating digital interventions to reduce distress among health care providers
Dr. Venkat Bhat, MD, MSc, FRCPC
Award: 2021 Compassion and Technology Fellow
- Behavioural Nudge
- Digital Interventions
- Stress Monitoring
Psychiatrist, St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health
Burnout and depression are exceptionally high among healthcare workers. Further, COVID-19 has accelerated the digital transformation of health care delivery. Venkat will evaluate a novel mobile platform (DiiG) to understand burnout among frontline healthcare workers during/after COVID-19 and use personalized/automated AI-driven mobile interventions (e.g. routine, sleep, exercise) to nudge active/passive parameters to manage distress. The additional qualitative component of the project will examine the digital user experience, ability to promote self-reflection and requirements to establish digital-trust. The Digital Interventions and Intelligence Group (DiiG), a collaborative multi-disciplinary initiative, led by Venkat, is at the intersection of engineering, advanced data analytics, mental health and digital ethics/privacy. DiiG employs digital platforms, such as wearables and smartphones, to access and improve wellness and mental health.