A Multidisciplinary Effort for Smart Health Assistive Technology in a Children's Psychiatric Unit

This paper demonstrates the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between teams of medical researchers, product design researchers, and computer science students. Their combined work resulted in both a concept and a product, a Smart Health Assistive Bag for children being hospitalized. The Child Psychiatry Inpatient Unit at Sheba Medical Center provides mental health services to children suffering from a variety of psychopathological conditions. The multidisciplinary staff takes a family-oriented approach where parents and caregivers are encouraged to be active participants in the treatment team throughout their child's stay. Our work focused on the design and development of a Smart Bag, which supports this family-oriented approach, encourages the involvement of the family during the child's stay and collects new data for future functional analysis. Engineering and design students from both Shenkar and the Technion worked with Sheba's clinicians to create a conceptual prototype that advances the defined theoretical needs and build a working prototype. Our Smart Bag aimed at aiding child hospitalizations in the Psychiatrist Inpatient Unit is an important innovative tool for Sheba's Smart Health facility. It is designed to help the child in adjusting to the unit and be an active participant in their daily routine while in the unit. Additionally, because it has IoT sensors and is linked to a network through a digital platform, it supports the child's family and caregivers in staying updated regarding the child's progress. The Smart Bag can apprise the family about the child's daily achievements by informing them of tokens given to the child for desirable behavior. It updates both family and caregivers regarding the current stage in the child's treatment. Such on-going communication involving the child, caregivers and clinicians reduces the stress and worry that families often feel when their child is hospitalized in the Psychiatrist Unit and improves the therapeutic alliance between clinicians and families.