Khaberni - In a striking development for integrating technology and children's mental health, the Mayo Clinic unveiled an innovative system based on an AI-powered smartwatch, capable of alerting parents to their children’s impending tantrums, allowing for early intervention and managing the situation before it escalates.
The system relies on monitoring physiological stress indicators in the child, such as accelerated heartbeats or changes in movement, and then sending this data to a smart app on parents' phones, which issues an alert as a tantrum approaches and calls for direct communication with the child at the right moment.
According to a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, children aged between 3 and 7 years, who receive interactive therapy between parents and children at the Mayo Clinic, wore smartwatches for 16 weeks. The results showed that the alerts enabled parents to intervene within just four seconds and helped reduce the duration of severe tantrums by an average of 11 minutes, which is nearly half the time recorded when relying on traditional therapy alone.
The system's benefits are not limited to calming children but also extend to enhancing the bonds between parents and children, and improving the quality of daily experiences in places like airplanes and restaurants, according to specialized reports.
Despite the need for further extensive studies before the system is commercially launched, researchers believe that this technology could fill a significant gap in mental health care for children, especially outside of clinics, at a time when statistics indicate that one in five children in the United States suffers from a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder.
In related news, the research team pointed to a previous study published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, which examined data from smartwatches related to heart rate, sleep, and movement in children receiving psychiatric care. The study concluded that a machine learning algorithm was able to predict the child's behavior with 81% accuracy, with the capability to alert parents to a potential tantrum a full hour before it occurred.
Experts warn that anxiety, depression, and behavioral disorders in children may extend their effects into adulthood, making early intervention a crucial factor in protecting both the child's and family's well-being. Although psychotherapy remains the first choice, data derived from everyday smart devices now represents a supportive tool for improving care outside the clinic setting.
With the steady rise in mental health disorder diagnoses in children since 2016, researchers hope that this technology opens new avenues for family support. Dr. Julia Chikunov, Medical Director of the Pediatric and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at Mayo Clinic, affirms:
“We are witnessing an increasing number of children going through crises. This system provides parents with immediate tools that can be used at any time, even outside the clinic, to help their children regain control.”
