An innovative and integrative m-Health solution for treatment resistant schizophrenia patients

Abstract

7: iMinds Living Labs, Belgium; 8: iMinds-SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussels In the European Union, it is estimated that around 5 million people (0.2-2.6{%}) suffer from psychotic disorders. Between 30-50{%} can be considered resistant to treatment, and 10-20{%} ultra-resistant (Juarez-Reyes et al., 1995; Essock et al., 1996). The standard intervention in patients with resistant schizophrenia is complex, mainly for the presence of persistent positive symptomatology, extensive periods of hospital care and greater risk of mul ti-morbidity, that leads to a scenario with a high degree of suffering for the patients, family and social environment, and a high proportion of costs to the healthcare system (Kennedy et al., 2014). To date, the standard treatment is not enough to achieve remission in resistant schizophrenia patients. Therefore, an improved understanding of treatment refractory schizophrenia and the development of innovative evidence-based interventions adjunctive to pharmacological and psychosocial treatment are necessary. ICT-based programmes are a novel possibility to improve the outcomes of schizophrenia since previous studies have indexed the suitability and promising results of interventions based on m-Health techniques (Granholm et al., 2012; Ben-Zeev et al., 2013). However, new proposals adapted to the specific nature of well-identified clinical subgroups, such as resistant patients, are needed.