Children of parents with a mental illness (COPMI) are more likely to experience negative long-term adversities, however interventions to support the needs of COPMI early can significantly reduce poor outcomes. It is estimated that one in four children currently lives with a parent with mental illness worldwide. Although there are currently no precise estimates, lifelong impact for individuals, governments and wider society is likely to be substantial. At the moment, there are significant barriers to the early identification of COPMI, particularly within the mental health care system. As a result, they remain invisible and their needs may be unmet. Furthermore, there is a lack of collaborative care that might enhance identification as well as offer services and support for COPMI.

The project “The Village” seeks to improve child development and wellbeing outcomes for children of parents with a diagnosed mental illness. This will be achieved through the co-development, implementation and evaluation of an approach to collaborative practice concerned with the identification of COPMI, and with establishing child-focused support networks. This will be done in the Austrian region Tyrol over the period of four years (2018-2022).

The research project aims to directly improve identification and support of vulnerable children across selected regions in Austria, and by doing so, improve the health and wellbeing of future Austrian generations, while breaking the cycle of intergenerational transfer of adverse childhood experiences. The research findings will also be relevant for healthcare providers and policy makers in other countries, and the international research community.

Village: find out more

A big part of the entire cardiovascular disease burden of the population is related to a range of unhealthy behavioural risk factors (i.e. unhealthy dietary habits, smoking, physical inactivity). Whereas prevention and rehabilitation programmes lead to meaningful short-term effects, long-term effects are rather disappointing and thus patients’ health is not preserved in a sustainable manner. Mechanisms (i.e. motivation, incentives, etc.) behind healthy behaviour and ways in which digital tools can impact secondary prevention in a sustainable way have yet to be discovered. New ways are needed to involve patients in this process to increase the efficacy of intervention programmes. To this end, the healthcare system needs to be more open to increased involvement from the patients’ side.

People are becoming increasingly informed about their health. Nonetheless, in order to guarantee patient safety, healthcare professionals need to be trained to address uncertainty among patients and caregivers about complexity, probability, and ambiguity throughout the patient journey. Many of the preventable complications could be avoided using digital solutions to support caregivers and patients by monitoring and optimising treatment strategies in the patient journey. With more efficient knowledge transfer, patients and care givers can be empowered. This requires deep, two-way communication between healthcare professionals and patients, leading to shared and data-assisted decision-making. Additionally, this decision-making can be further supported by personalised recommendations from the available general data. To achieve this, traditional hierarchies have to be modified and patients need to take centre stage amongst the other stakeholders.

The LBI:DHP has been established at the University Institute for Sports Medicine at the University Hospital Salzburg under the scientific direction of Prim. Univ. Prof. Dr. Dr. Josef Niebauer, MBA, to help patients as well as healthy individuals to achieve sustainable lifestyle changes, in particularly related to Cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is the most common cause of death in Austria and worldwide and induces significant burden on individual, societal, and economic levels. The institute’s goal is to support CVD patients and healthy individuals in making long-term, sustainable, efficient and effective health-promoting lifestyle changes using new digital technologies.

LBI for Digital Health and Prevention

LBI:DHPS has been established at the Medical University of Vienna with Prof. Harald Willschke as Institute Director to work on various aspects of patient safety and digitalization in healthcare. The institute develops and implements digital solutions that improve patient safety by empowering patients and health professionals and supporting decision making. The researchers use Open Innovation in Science to work in interdisciplinary teams and involve all relevant stakeholders, such as patients, their families, health care professionals and the public.

LBI for Digital Health and Patient Safety