Three-quarters of mental disorders emerge during adolescence, by the age of 24, with mental health (MH) conditions being the leading cause of disability among young people globally. Yet, adolescents have the poorest access to MH services, highlighting an increased need for public MH interventions. In this context, Wearable Computing with a combination of AI for the tracking of factors related to mental health (e.g., sleep quality, physical activity, PA, emotional states) increasingly serves as the first digital step toward established remote MH management tools. Importantly, digital tools are particularly suitable for young people, given their use of technology more than any other age group.

EXperiMental aims to generate long lasting MH inclusivity in schools. At the outset, we will engage young adolescents in a participatory co-design process to learn about their attitudes towards MH, digital behavioural interventions, AI, data sharing, ethical issues, and PA. The insights gained will allow us to create personalized nudges to encourage beneficial personalized PA behaviours.

This project includes two longitudinal studies in Croatia and Romania, involving a total of >300 adolescents and relevant school stakeholders. One study will be purely observational, testing the co-created setup for collecting data in real-life, using mobile sensing devices (e.g., smartphones and smartwatches) and MH questionnaires and ecological momentary assessments (EMAs). We will utilize the newly collected observational data, together with existing consortium data in Romania and Switzerland, to develop ML techniques for MH and behaviour modelling based on state-of-the-art unsupervised and self-supervised learning methods. The developed tools and interventions will be evaluated in a second study involving teachers and school psychologists from Romania and Croatia, ensuring their effectiveness, usability, and transferability across countries.

Guidelines will be put forward for creating solutions to enhance mental health in early adolescents. These guidelines will serve as a blueprint for future research and interventions, promoting high ethical standards and broader application of AI and mobile sensing in MH prevention and care. By leveraging cutting-edge technologies, our project aims to make significant strides in the prevention and early detection of MH issues in early adolescents, ultimately contributing to healthier and more resilient future generations.