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DOD selects digital health firm for suicide prevention study
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
mental health weekly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7583
pISSN - 1058-1103
DOI - 10.1002/mhw.32082
Subject(s) - active duty , digital health , outreach , mental health , android (operating system) , intervention (counseling) , applied psychology , computer security , psychology , medicine , medical emergency , computer science , military personnel , health care , psychiatry , political science , law , economics , economic growth , operating system
CompanionMx Inc., a digital health technology company providing a platform to sense, understand and prevent mental health episodes, on Sept. 26 announced the launch of a forthcoming study with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, with funding support from the Department of Defense (DOD), entitled “Facilitating Assessment of At‐Risk Sailors with Technology (FAAST).” FAAST will evaluate the efficacy of the Companion System, based on a smartphone‐enabled, upstream suicide prevention intervention in active‐duty naval personnel. The FAAST study will leverage the Companion System as an evidence‐based, mobile‐first, proactive approach to monitoring and interpreting behavioral patterns related to smartphone use and voice analysis. Through active monitoring of voice analytics and passive monitoring of other smartphone metadata, the Companion technology produces both acoustic and behavioral digital biomarkers of core symptoms associated with mood and anxiety disorders. The digital biomarkers will be securely collected from Android‐based smartphones and monitored daily by research clinicians via The Companion Dashboard to facilitate outreach and intervention as needed.