Researcher develops new digital tool for people with anxiety disorders

A UWE Bristol researcher is developing a new digital tool to help people with anxiety disorders.

Luigi Moretti, a doctoral researcher, is harnessing existing wearable technology for his service MEMoPAD.

An app he has developed draws on data produced by smartwatch sensors monitoring heart rate, skin temperature and sweat levels (electrodermal activity). This data is used to highlight ‘emotions’ that the user is experiencing, including episodes of anxiety.

When signs of anxiety appear in the data, the app offers a timely prompt to try a grounding intervention (such as meditation or deep breathing) to help the user cope in their moment of difficulty.

Users can share recorded data from the app – and any self-reported contextual notes they have added – with clinicians to enable better-informed conversations about their anxiety. The note taking function is aimed at linking emotions to daily activities, triggers, and coping strategies. Clinicians can access the shared data on a web version of the app.

It is hoped the patterns and trends that reveal themselves in the data, along with active self-reported notes, can help users better understand their wellbeing and work more effectively with clinicians to improve their mental health.

Anxiety disorders affect one in 10 people in the UK. Luigi, a medical doctor working at UWE Bristol’s Health Tech Hub, believes his service has the potential to help people experiencing generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and eventually other conditions such as personality disorders and seasonal affective disorder.

He says there is a gap in the market for using technology to support mental health, as the major tech companies manufacturing wearables such as smartwatches have focused their devices and software on recording levels of stress rather than anxiety, without a clear narrative or aim for implementation in clinical pathways.

Explaining the inspiration behind MEMoPAD, he said: “I’ve watched loved ones navigate the complexities of mental healthcare.

“Faced with their long-term struggles and feeling powerless to help despite my medical background, I saw a clear and urgent need for better tools and a more empathetic system, an opportunity to make a meaningful difference that couldn’t be ignored.”

Luigi is designing MEMoPAD (Multimodal, Emotion, Monitoring, in Clinical Pathways for Anxiety Disorders) in close collaboration with patients, mental health clinicians and unpaid/informal carers. More than 450 people have subscribed to the project newsletter, and approximately 20 participants took part in each of the five completed co-design phases of the project, which received funding from the NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board. The project is supported by a multidisciplinary team with expertise ranging from smart sensing (Dr David Western) and digital health (Dr Michael Loizou) to clinical psychology (Dr Miles Thompson) and data science (Dr Paul Matthews).

He said: “Technology built in a vacuum often fails. Our foundation is built on listening. We use a co-design methodology, actively partnering with patients, clinicians, and carers at every stage.

“Their lived experiences and professional insights are not just feedback: they are the blueprint for building a tool that is truly relevant, safe, and effective.

“This project is an active and evolving journey. I am currently developing the initial prototype and preparing for the next phases of longitudinal user testing and evaluation.

“The goal is clear, continuous, interpretable emotion data that helps people understand themselves, manage their wellbeing proactively, and have deeper conversations with their care team.”

Luigi added: “The MEMoPAD project directly supports the UK's 10-Year Health Plan by developing the framework needed to integrate wearable devices and artificial intelligence into clinical pathways. By empowering patients with their own data, we can enable a more personalised and self-aware approach to care.

“This focus on prevention addresses a key challenge identified by our co-design participants: supporting individuals in seeking help for the first time. By improving emotional wellbeing and supporting timely help-seeking, MEMoPAD contributes to the wider societal goal of prevention-first healthcare.”