I am an HES associate professor at the Geneva School of Health Sciences (HES-SO) and an associate research fellow at the Swiss center for affective sciences at the University of Geneva.
My research focuses on the potential of mobile health (m-health) and gamification to enhance the efficacy and adherence of health interventions for both therapeutic and educational purposes. We address these questions at multiple levels - from applied research to more fundamental science - using convergent methods from behavioral sciences, computer science and game design, as well as cognitive and affective neuroscience.
These interests are reflected in several ongoing research projects. One FNS-funded project explores how video games can be used to train attention and reduce pediatric anxiety. Another line of work examines the use of serious games for health education. In this context, we are developing a serious game to train healthcare professionals in chronic wound care (Innosuisse project, in collaboration with the company Imito, Sebastian Probst (HEdS, Nursing Department), and Guillaume Chanel (University of Geneva)).
A third current line of research, developed through the PhD project of Emma Leavy (PhD fellow, Nursing Department) in collaboration with Prof. Laurent Gaucher (Midwifery Department, HEdS), focuses on perinatal mental health, investigating how m-health tools and online peer support may help reduce stigma and encourage care-seeking among women at risk for postpartum depression.
News:
- Sept 2023: Appointed to CARA's Ethics and Safety Commission for a 3-year mandate (Switzerland's Electronic Health Record CARA)
- October 2023: FNS funding started - Investigating the effect of training attentional control on emotion regulation and pediatric anxiety – A randomized controlled trial
- September 2022: HES-SO funding domaine santé - co-applicant with Laurent Gaucher. This project will aim at evaluating the acceptance and adoption of a mobile app hosting a community of mothers. This feasibility study will also evaluate the adoption and feasibility of a randomized control trial aiming to evaluate the effect of online peer support on well-being in women at risk of developing postpartum depression.
- July 2022: Finalist for the 7th Challenge debiopharm-Inartis patient quality of life with Sonali Quantius (Haplocare), Laurent Gaucher and Emma Leavy (HEDS) and the project Haplocare, an application enabling access to peer support during perinatality.
- January 2022: Innosuisse funding - collaboration with the company Imito, co-applicant with Sebastian Probst (HEDS) and Guillaume Chanel (UNIGE). This project aims at working on the development of an deep neural model for allowing the monitoring of chronic wounds, as well as a serious game for chronic wound care education.
- October 2021: you can view the recording of the online symposium organized the 14th Sept. 2021: “The Covid-19 Pandemic – A Digital Health Catalyst”, which aimed at highlighting some of the positive effects that the current pandemic is having on the digitization of healthcare.
- February 2020: Joined the Geneva School of Health Science as an Associate Professor (Haute Ecole de Santé de Genève).
Contact:
swann.pichon [A] hesge.ch