Which problems do we want to address with the validation of Psiconexia Predict, the new assessment tool?

Some of the main problems in some health systems, for instance in the national health system, reside in the very high number of patients with mental health problems, the lack of professionals and the limited time available to correctly evaluate and detect this type of problems. This saturation at the health level means that many of these problems do not receive adequate intervention and follow-up. This translates into extremely high and unsustainable economic costs in the medium and long term. Finally, the consequences of the global pandemic produced by COVID-19 in mental health have worsened this situation in a very notable way, affecting both adults and children and teenagers.

From Psiconexia, we want to develop a mental health assessment instrument (Psiconexia Predict) that allows us to improve the limitations posed by both paper-based assessment tests that are commonly used in clinical practice, through the use of new technologies. In other words, to develop a more efficient psychological evaluation that can help mental health centers or clinics with a high demand for patients. For example, considerably reducing the time and resources required by traditional evaluation, and, therefore, allocating these resources in a better analysis of the results obtained after the on-line evaluation. On the other hand, this evaluation must be equally comprehensive, reliable and valid to be able to correctly detect mental health problems and classify their level of psychopathological risk. In other words, achieving a balance between brevity, ease of administration, maximum rigor, and broad range of application. We believe that the role of new technologies can be of great help in achieving this aim.