The federal Project Grant award R43MH135674 from the National Institute of Mental Health (CFDA 93.242 Mental Health Research Grants) provides $219,212 to Empathy Rocks Inc. to develop an AI-powered technology that can detect and correct for cultural attunement in real-time during mental health treatment sessions. The goal is to improve patient-provider alliance and treatment retention, particularly for racial and ethnic minority groups who often experience poor mental health outcomes due to a lack of culturally responsive care. The key products to be developed include: (1) an AI model that can detect behaviors vital to patient-provider alliance and cultural attunement, and (2) a real-time correction system to improve clinical outcomes. The company will analyze conversational data from 300 health coaching sessions, 60% of which will involve racial and ethnic minority patients, to train and pilot their technology before scaling it through a randomized controlled trial under a future Phase II SBIR award.
Generated 3/4/25, 6:33 AM