Mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic quickly pivoted to remote and virtual services as restrictions limited in-person visits. The stopgap solution emerged as a viable long-term service: A National Institutes of Health study of their efficacy found that patients using virtual services attended more regularly and more often and also had higher completion rates.
Credit: USC Institute for Creative Technologies.
Mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic quickly pivoted to remote and virtual services as restrictions limited in-person visits. The stopgap solution emerged as a viable long-term service: A National Institutes of Health study of their efficacy found that patients using virtual services attended more regularly and more often and also had higher completion rates.
Now, a new mobile application designed to help reduce veteran suicides designed by researchers at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies (USC ICT) in collaboration with the SoldierStrong Foundation has received $1 million in Phase 2 funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The award is from Mission Daybreak, the VA’s 10-year, $20 million grand challenge designed to limit veteran suicide through a comprehensive, public health approach. According to the VA’s 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, the suicide rate for veterans was 57.3% greater than for non-veteran U.S. adults in 2020.
To address this, the USC ICT team developed a mobile application called Battle Buddy. The app is an AI-driven virtual human companion that uses passive sensing through a phone or other wearables such as a smartwatch to deliver personalized health, wellness and suicide prevention messaging. The proposal was one of only 10 winners from an initial pool of 1,371.
“Integrating virtual humans with mobile health applications opens up new opportunities to connect with veterans and overcome some of the barriers associated with suicide prevention,” said Sharon Mozgai, project leader and associate director for medical virtual reality at USC ICT. “Battle Buddy is a non-judgmental companion, who is available 24/7.”
The USC ICT team of Mozgai, Skip Rizzo and Arno Hartholt — in collaboration with the SoldierStrong Foundation — proposed to extend their previous U.S. Army-funded research that promotes engagement with a virtual human-led mobile mental health and wellness application, Battle Buddy.
This interactive, embodied conversational agent leverages content related to the VA’s Suicide Safety Planning program embedded within brief daily check-ins with veterans. Hartholt, Director of Research and Development Integration at USC ICT and the teams’ lead computer scientist, said the application focuses on “getting to know the individual and walking them through difficult moments.” The virtual human will also allow veterans to connect their wearable sensors to the app, detecting sleep, exercise and other signals of overall well-being.
“We are thrilled to receive this recognition for Battle Buddy and proud of the impact it will have on the veteran community,” said Rizzo, director for medical virtual reality at USC ICT. “The team worked tirelessly to create a solution that is both effective and accessible, and this prize will help us bring Battle Buddy to those who need it most.”
In November, the USC ICT/SoldierStrong team earned an initial award of $250,000 in Phase 1 funding and spent eight weeks advancing their solution as part of the Mission Daybreak accelerator. The team then traveled to Washington, D.C. to demo the Battle Buddy prototype and present a long-term research and development vision for the program in competition with the other Phase 1 awardees.
This effort extends ICT’s partnership with SoldierStrong which has donated the equipment, software, and clinician training for ICT’s Virtual Reality PTSD Exposure Therapy system (BRAVEMIND) across the VA health network.
“Addressing the crisis of veterans taking their own lives requires more than recognizing, acknowledging, and even investing in prevention efforts. Solutions will come through innovative approaches that are only possible through relationships that share valuable information and capitalize on each partner’s strengths,” said Chris Meek, co-founder and chairman of SoldierStrong. “Effectively leveraging real-time data via easy-to-implement technology can – and will – significantly enhance individual wellbeing and aid efforts to reduce the overall number of suicides.”
About USC ITC, Soldier Strong
The USC Institute for Creative Technologies at USC is a U.S. Army University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). For over 20 years, USC ICT has been at the forefront of basic and applied research in immersive technology, simulation, human performance, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and narrative. USC ICT has leveraged this multi-disciplinary research to develop advanced prototypes and pilot projects that solve real-world problems facing service members, civilians, students, and society.
SoldierStrong provides revolutionary technology, innovative advancements and educational opportunities to veterans to better their lives and the lives of their families.