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European research grant for serious gaming and eHealth intervention
Andrea Evers has been awarded an ERC Proof of
Concept grant to develop innovative therapeutic
interventions. This project extends her
current studies, supported by an ERC Consolidator
Grant, in which she examines how expectations
about health, such as the placebo effect,
influence disease outcomes. The project will be
carried out by Andrea Evers and Sylvia van Beugen
of the Health, Medical and Neuropsychology
unit.
Expectations about
health and illness affect treatment outcomes.
Probably best known is the above-mentioned placebo
effect, which means that just the expectation that
a treatment works has a therapeutic effect. The
research group led by Andrea Evers, professor in
health psychology, studies the underlying
mechanisms and related therapeutic applications.
The goal is to put the theoretical knowledge about
health expectations into practice, for example by
making use of placebo effects for innovative
interventions.
The ERC Proof of
Concept grant will be used for the evolution and
valorization of a serious game and eHealth
interventions for both healthy populations and
populations suffering from chronic illness. These
interventions can have an impact on health
expectations and related health outcomes. The
research project will further develop the
different elements of the interventions and study
the user-friendliness and effects. Moreover, this
grant means the first step towards commercial
use.