They say we live in stressful times.

They say our children do not get enough exercise; that video games have contributed to the death of communication and the increase in repetitive strain injury.

They say that the increased use of text messages has destroyed spelling.

I am not exactly sure who “they” are… but “they” have become the modern day soothsayer.

I want to tell you about a project that is being developed that “they” should hear about, and maybe it will change their view on technology and its impact on society.

In July 2006, with the support from the Telstra Foundation, Telstra Corporation, ZTE and Legion Interactive, Dr Sophie Reid, started working on a project entitled “Promoting skills of resilience to prevent adolescent depression: Evaluating the utility of new mobile phone technologies”.

So what exactly does that mean? According to Dr Reid, this project was to design and trial the mobiletype programme, website interface and IT systems.

The mobiletype programme is a youth-friendly, mental health assessment and monitoring programme that runs on mobile phones and assists doctors in detecting and managing mental health problems, in particular depression, at an early stage.

It is the first study worldwide to use mobile phones to capture snapshots of young people’s everyday experiences of mood, stress, and coping behaviours in the natural environment as it occurs, and to use this information to provide doctors with individualised feedback about their patient’s mental health functioning and recommendations for treatment based upon this information.

Being conducted through the Centre for Adolescent Health Outpatient Medical Clinics at the Royal Children’s Hospital, 39 young people and 7 doctors have so far participated in the study.

The preliminary results suggest that young people:

• Find the program easy to use :-)
• Feel that it accurately captures their experiences :-)
• Think that it is a good way to communicate with their doctors, especially difficult or sensitive information :-)
• Have found that monitoring their moods, stresses and other mental health factors increases their insight and understanding of themselves, and assists them to cope better :-)
• And enjoy the sense of feeling connected to their health-care provider in the intervening weeks :-)

Total = 5/5 :-)

The preliminary results suggest that doctors:

• Found the mobiletype program and feedback websites easy and straightforward to use :-)
• Thought the program accurately captured clinically useful data :-)
• Found the program saved time by allowing them to narrow in on particular difficulties their patients were having :-)
• Found that using a patient’s own data was helpful when talking about difficult or sensitive issues :-)
• Thought the program was helpful in establishing a rapport between doctor and patient :-)
• And found that the program highlighted areas of difficulties and lead to discussions about topics that would normally have been missed :-)

Total = 6/6 :-)
(I hope “They” are still reading… )

The next phase of the programme is currently being rolled out in a regional Victorian centre. From there they will be adapting the protocols and IT systems from the current Hospital Outpatient’s system to the General Practitioner setting before a larger scale study encompassing GPs and clinics around Victoria in the rolling out of the programme nation-wide.

The benefit of the GP setting is that this is the environment in which young people with early mental disorders are most likely to present. It will assist doctors at the coal-face to engage young people into care, to detect the signs of mental health problems, and to intervene early in the development of depression and related disorders.

This is just one example of how technology is giving back to society – full credit to the work of Dr Reid and her team in their work to improve the lives of young Australians, and indeed the world.