The digital neuroscience company Cambridge Cognition Holdings plc (LON:COG), which develops and markets digital solutions to assess brain health, has today announced a brand new software product to assess mental health and wellbeing at work, CANTAB BrainHealth™.
Mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety and stress, are the leading cause of disability worldwide1. In the workplace, 470 million workdays are lost each year due to poor mental health in the UK and US alone, costing employers an estimated $225.8 billion per annum2.
The majority of these costs are as result of ‘presenteeism’, the loss of productivity in employees affected by a mental health condition, which will often go unreported until symptoms worsen and require time away from work.
While there is a growing awareness of the need for mentally fit workplaces, to date these have focused on education around what mental illness is and what to do if someone requests help. What has not been addressed well is how to identify problems before they affect health and performance.
Launching in H2 2018, CANTAB BrainHealth™ is a fast, accurate and easy-to-use digital health product. Designed for occupational health professionals, it will measure and monitor mental wellbeing and cognitive performance in the workplace and help combat the growing global mental health crisis. The Company expects to work closely with channel partners, initially in the US and the UK, to commercialise the product.
Using proprietary cognitive assessment technology, the Company’s new product accurately measures cognition and mood objectively, identifying signs of an underlying brain health condition early.
The short assessment instantly reports on the individual’s wellbeing, comparing their performance with expected healthy levels and providing expert advice from healthcare professionals on ways to intervene and improve. Follow-up assessments can then monitor the individual’s health over time, helping to track their progress.
Dr Jenny Brockis, an independent brain health and workplace performance consultant said: “The objective mood and cognition assessments are sensitive to the potential presence of an underlying mental health condition, facilitating early intervention before productivity and performance are impacted. The result is not only good for a company’s bottom line, it promotes a workplace culture of care that has the potential of reducing the costs of absenteeism, presenteeism and high staff turnover.”
Dr Steven Powell, Chief Executive Officer, Cambridge Cognition Holdings Plc said: “We are delighted to announce this important digital health product, building on the success of our gold standard technologies used in over one million clinical trial assessments. CANTAB BrainHealth™ software will be licensed globally to occupational health providers and channel partners, offering an urgent solution for employers and enabling their employees to thrive.”
Sources:
1 World Health Organization (WHO) March 30, 2017
2 World Federation for Mental Health. WMHD Mental Health in the Workplace Report 2017
