WP5 — Evaluation (Junior)

Overview

WP5 focuses on the evaluation of Immersive Prevention Centers (IPCs) designed for adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs).
It parallels WP6, which targets older adults with neurodegenerative conditions, but adapts the methodology and evaluation focus to the developmental and psychosocial characteristics of younger participants.
Through interdisciplinary collaboration, WP5 aims to assess the usability, feasibility, and efficacy of IPC-based interventions for adolescent populations in Switzerland and Poland.

Objectives

Evaluations in WP5 will mirror those in WP6 but focus on adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders, a population requiring innovative, multimodal therapeutic approaches (Astle et al., 2022; Agid 2022).
Both adolescent and older adult populations exhibit neurovascular abnormalities critical to brain health (Ouellette & Lacoste, 2021), yet their treatment goals differ substantially.

• For older individuals, treatments emphasize symptom management, slowing disease progression, and maintaining cognitive and physical health.
• For adolescents with NDDs, therapies prioritize cognitive and emotional development, social interaction, and educational support, addressing individualized symptom profiles.

Social and contextual factors play a central role in adolescent intervention success (Walker 2002; Penner et al. 2022).
Consequently, the determinants of usability, feasibility, and efficacy differ between populations.
WP5 therefore uses the adolescent case to test the potential and adaptability of IPCs across diverse mental health contexts.

Summary

WP5 evaluates the junior IPC prototypes with a focus on adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders.
It combines behavioral data, clinical metrics, and user feedback to determine the feasibility and efficacy of immersive prevention interventions.
The cross-country design, involving Swiss and Polish teams, allows comparative evaluation of usability and therapeutic impact, advancing the project’s goal of developing evidence-based, personalized, and scalable mental health technologies.