Swansea research programme gets new funding to help reduce harmful gambling and PTSD symptoms in veterans

The study, worth approximately £300,000, is funded by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (Cabinet Office) Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund and was one of 22 successful awards totalling £5m recently announced by Rt Hon Jonny Mercer MP, Minster for Veterans’ Affairs.

The projects, harnessing cutting-edge technology, innovation and research have been launched this week to help the physical and mental health of veterans, and have the potential to contribute to mainstream and improved treatments by the NHS.

The newly announced recipients of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs’ (OVA) Health Innovation Fund, delivered in collaboration with the Defence and Security Accelerator Fund (DASA), include leading academic institutions, private sector companies and charities from across the UK. 

22 innovative projects have had funding confirmed, including Swansea University to evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a smartphone-based app to reduce harmful gambling and PTSD symptoms among veterans.

The university’s ACTIVATE study aims to evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a smartphone app based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to treat harmful gambling and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Armed Forces veterans. 

ACTIVATE is a collaboration between Swansea University, Combat Stress, and King’s Centre for Military Health Research, King’s College London, and is being led by Professor Simon Dymond, School of Psychology, Swansea University.

Professor Dymond said: “Veterans are at heightened risk for PTSD and harmful gambling, and both are highly stigmatising, making veterans unlikely to seek help. Digital treatment interventions via smartphones are convenient, cost-effective, long-lasting, and avoid the stigma associated with in-person help. 

“The project team will co-create and implement a new app based on ACT with veterans with lived experience of PTSD and gambling harm and develop an individualised treatment approach. They will determine whether the ACTIVATE intervention is cost-effective in terms of reduced healthcare utilisation costs and leads to an improved quality of life.”

Other projects to gain funding include four linked projects by Imperial College London to develop prosthetics, including innovative implants to treat limb pain. The projects will make use of cutting edge surgery techniques and how they can improve prosthetics for patients.

Also gaining funding is NuTissu, a company specialising in advanced material technology, will develop E-Plasters – an innovative wound healing technique that uses advanced biomaterials and electricity to accelerate the healing of skin wounds. The E-Plasters will be explored to see how they could improve veterans’ quality of life, and also reduce the costs of long term chronic wound care.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham will use biomarkers in blood and saliva from veterans who have suffered traumatic brain injury to develop an algorithm to predict prognosis and treatment in a further project, while the University of Exeter and company IonaMind will develop and evaluate AI powered tech to treat depression and anxiety in female veterans.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer said: “I’m delighted that we’re providing funding to these projects today. Utilising the latest developments in research and clinical care, these initiatives will spur innovation and new techniques to treat veterans – both with physical and mental health conditions – who have been injured in the line of duty”. 

Secretary of State at the new Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, Michelle Donelan, said: “It is great to see the Office for Veterans’ Affairs providing funding to drive forward cutting-edge science and technology that will change lives.

“Starting with those who have been wounded while serving this country, these initiatives have the potential to be utilised more widely, putting UK healthcare at the forefront of innovation.”

(Lead image: Pexels)