Pilot Project, Year 2

ARORA: Using augmented reality to gamify a universal social-emotional learning intervention in low-infrastructure environments

Communities in Indian Country experience severe behavioral health inequities. There is very limited access to behavioral health care resources.  Suicide is experienced 2.5 times more frequently than in other communities for people ages 15-24 and generations of historical trauma have resulted in higher rates of poverty, food insecurity, substance abuse, and depression.

The rurality and lack of robust telecommunications infrastructure in many communities in Indian Country prohibit telehealth interventions that require high-speed, low-latency Internet access. This project designed a universal, social, and emotional learning intervention delivered over a mobile phone application.

Given the promising health benefits of positive psychology-focused interventions for youth and adolescents, the team created an age-relevant intervention by using geosocial gaming mechanisms enhanced with augmented reality technology.

They also formed a community advisory board of American Indian behavioral health care professionals and advocates who work with American Indian youth and adolescents to ensure that the designs of the intervention and application are culturally relevant and appropriate.

The team also worked to ensure that the intervention was made widely accessible in Indian Country (and other low infrastructure communities) by designing a novel network architecture that localizes telehealth services to the communities that use them, enhancing access to telehealth applications that are delay-sensitive and media-rich.

Funding: The study is funded by NIMHD/NIH U54MD012388

About the investigator