The Luso-Spanish Prevans project is available online and the scientists involved want, by March 2026, to recruit a thousand people at risk of suffering anxiety disturbances
Researchers from Porto and Malaga in Spain have developed a website and an application to allow universal access to preventive and personalized anxiety intervention that can “minimize the use of crowded health services.”
The Luso-Spanish Project Prevaons ‘Online’ is available and scientists involved want, until March 2026, to recruit a thousand people at risk of suffering anxiety disturbances, explained this Friday to Lusa Filipa Salomé, researcher at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of U.Porto (FPCEUP).
Objective is “Preventing anxiety before you have an impact on everyday life”
The goal is to evaluate if the use of personalized intervention based on a risk algorithm, In a universal approach possible by using technologies, it can help prevent anxiety, with impact on public health, he explained.
“We liked that, being effective as we thought it may be, there were some kind of partnerships with public entities to make the application available. Thus, people can be active assistants in their own health and the preventive impact would minimize the use of health services that everyone knows that they are absolutely crowded,” explained Filipa Salomé.
On the other hand, the intention is “Preventing anxiety before you have an impact on everyday life”
Researchers from FPCEUP and Malaga University expect to start analyzing the data collected in March 2027 and, in May of that year, submitting the findings, he added.
“We consider that the best way to combat the high number of cases of anxiety disorders is to prevent them. We focus on prevention rather than in treatment, we chose to use new technologies to reach more people and a personalized intervention that rests on a previously validated risk algorithm,” said the researcher.
Thus, to have access to prevans, interested parties should answer a questionnaire to assess the percentage of probability of developing anxiety disturbances the following year, following a clinical interview by psychologists.
“What we are testing is the use of technology and the use of the risk algorithm”
The risk algorithm will allow us to identify people who qualify to participate in the study and have access to prevention strategies and which ones are in the so -called control group.AThe intervention group is then allowed access to information modules, exercises or, in more severe cases, cognitive behavioral intervention.
“We already know that these strategies reflected in modules prevent anxiety. What we are testing is the use of technology and the use of the risk algorithm,” said the researcher.
Participants can also, if they want, Share the experience in a forum created for the purpose.When, during the risk assessment, people manifest “significant symptoms of anxiety “, They are referred by professionals who follow the rehearsal for free or low cost support services, according to Filipa Salomé.
A “Pioneer Digital Intervention” It was developed by a multidisciplinary team that integrates specialists in Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, Statistics, Epidemiology, Informatics and Design, says FPCEUP in a press release.
“Despite the European consensus on the urgency of betting on the prevention of Portugal continues to lack digital interventions based on scientific evidence specifically oriented to anxiety. The prevans comes to collect this gap, “he notes.
In a version tested for five days, participants of different age groups and professional occupations evaluated the experience with the application.
According to FPCEUP, these users highlighted the “Intuitive design, simple language” and the usefulness of prevans to “regular emotions, rethinking behavioral patterns, increasing emotional awareness and reducing resistance in seeking psychological support.”
