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Digital therapeutics – taking a break in today’s fast-paced world

Scott Manghilis
28 Mar 2022

Digital therapeutics approaches are being used to help children with anti-social tendencies understand and regulate their emotions.

“Time Out!” For most kids of the 1980s that meant that your parents needed a break from the chaos, or it was used as a way of stopping of bad behavior. This was usually followed by: “Go to your room!”

However, today, a company has created an environment where your child plays games to practice calming down or “taking a pause.” But what does this look like, and what’s the value?

The value of digital therapeutics

During these games, kids wear a heart rate monitor while they play – enabling them to see their emotions and connect with them directly as they are experiencing them. For example, as they play, your child reacts to their heart rate. As their heart rates go up, the game gets harder to play and they practice how to take a pause in order to bring their heart rate down and earn rewards in their games.

Granted, this technology wasn’t created for your average unruly child, it was created for kids with anti-social behavior. The goal here is to build “better emotional regulation in children.” Another game is aimed at those with ADHD to help improve attention function by activating the prefrontal cortex of the brain.

The next step in connected health

These digital therapeutics have seen extensive growth in the healthcare sector since the outset of COVID-19. Today, they aren’t just targeted at children, there are also games for those with Alzheimer’s and chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This is all part of the healthcare sector’s drive towards Connected Health in the digital age.

The Capgemini Research institute (CRI) recently published a report titled “Unlocking the Value in Connected Health,” which explores some of the key themes in digital therapeutics. This includes companies’ connected health strategies and governance structures, capabilities, product development and launch processes, benefits and use cases, and key challenges in building a connected health portfolio.

Read the full CRI report to learn how digital therapeutics can drive value in your organization, and discover how Capgemini’s Intelligent Customer Operations for Healthcare solution drives frictionless patient and member experiences.