New CHEO Research Institute study to test effectiveness of Mobio Interactive mobile mindfulness therapy for youth

June 1, 2023 (Toronto, ON) – A new CHEO Research Institute study, in collaboration with Mobio Interactive, is underway to examine the effectiveness of delivering clinically validated mindfulness therapy for youth through a mobile app. The study, funded in part by the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®) through its Early Adopter Health Network (EAHNTM), will also explore whether youth better engage with mental health services using Mobio’s AmDTx app, and whether healthcare providers will continue to prescribe the tool as an adjunctive therapy during treatment.   

“With mental health and wellness-related issues reaching an all-time high, especially in young Canadians, it is time to find new creative and interactive ways to serve them,” said Dr. Bechara Saab, Mobio Interactive’s CEO & Chief Scientist. “Our mission is to help create a world where anyone, anywhere who is living with mental health issues, has the opportunity to access clinically meaningful support.”

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the wait times for Canadians seeking mental health support were at an all-time high. The problem has continued to escalate, with a 52% increase in people seeking mental health services during the pandemic, according to The Canadian Mental Health Association.

“CHEO, like many other pediatric hospitals, is experiencing unprecedented demands for mental health services and we must find innovative solutions. This study will provide robust evidence on whether early intervention with a mindfulness training program delivered using mobile technology reduces emotional distress and promotes resilience for youth waiting for outpatient mental health services at CHEO. If the study shows this new mobile approach to initial treatment works, it could be a game changer by identifying an innovative, affordable, and scalable therapeutic tool,” said Dr. Gary Goldfield, Senior Scientist and clinical psychologist at the CHEO Research Institute, who is leading the study alongside Dr. Michael Cheng, co-investigator, and psychiatrist at CHEO.

AmDTx delivers and measures clinically validated psychotherapy. The mobile therapy includes wellness sessions ranging from mindfulness training to music therapy, as well as indication-specific step-by-step programs. Additional features of AmDTx include objective measurements of mental wellbeing using the camera on the mobile device, along with artificial intelligence, to guide the user into a suite of meditations and psycho-education based on effective stress reduction from previous use, as determined by the company’s proprietary digital biomarker extraction and analysis.

By providing funding for this study, OBIO’s EAHN™ program continues to advance health technology innovation and commercialization and help healthcare organizations access innovations that can impact the patient’s journey.

“This project will test both AmDTx's ability to support youth as they experience increasingly longer wait times for outpatient mental health services, as well as the app's impact on outcomes during treatment,” said Dr. Maura Campbell, President and CEO, OBIO®. “We are excited to support this important study that focuses on improving the pressing problem of longer than acceptable wait times for outpatient mental health services in Canada.”