Apr 06, 2023
No image
Service categories
Service Lines
Big Data
Domain focus
Healthcare
Programming language
Python
Frameworks
Torch/PyTorch
CMS solutions
WordPress
Subcategories
Big Data
Text Analytics
Challenge
Researchers in psychology and the social sciences often have to conduct meta-analyses of research across long time periods and cultures, to identify trends. For example, our team was investigating the effect of social isolation and loneliness on mental wellbeing over time, focusing on two societies (the UK and Brazil).
Primary care psychologists often use the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) questionnaire as a tool for quantifying anxiety, but other questionnaires used in the past include the Beck Anxiety Inventory. The Beck questionnaire focuses more on physical symptoms whereas the GAD-7 includes more questions about psychological state. It can be hard to compare datasets using different questionnaires.
Researchers in psychology and the social sciences often have to conduct meta-analyses of research across long time periods and cultures, to identify trends. For example, our team was investigating the effect of social isolation and loneliness on mental wellbeing over time, focusing on two societies (the UK and Brazil).
Primary care psychologists often use the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) questionnaire as a tool for quantifying anxiety, but other questionnaires used in the past include the Beck Anxiety Inventory. The Beck questionnaire focuses more on physical symptoms whereas the GAD-7 includes more questions about psychological state. It can be hard to compare datasets using different questionnaires.
Solution
We developed a harmonisation tool using Natural Language Processing to allow researchers to conduct meta-analyses of mental health studies in collaboration with the University of Ulster, University College London, and the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria in Brazil, for the Wellcome Trust’s Data Prize in Mental Health. You can read more on the project website at https://harmonydata.org/ or at https://fastdatascience.com/harmony-wellcome-data-prize/
We developed a harmonisation tool using Natural Language Processing to allow researchers to conduct meta-analyses of mental health studies in collaboration with the University of Ulster, University College London, and the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria in Brazil, for the Wellcome Trust’s Data Prize in Mental Health. You can read more on the project website at https://harmonydata.org/ or at https://fastdatascience.com/harmony-wellcome-data-prize/
Results
Our tool, Harmony, allows researchers to upload a set of mental health questionnaires in PDF or Excel format, such as the GAD-7 anxiety questionnaire. It identifies which questions among questionnaires are identical, similar in meaning, or antonyms of each other, and generates a network graph. This allows researchers to harmonise datasets.
Using Harmony, our team was able to conduct groundbreaking research into social isolation and anxiety with NLP supplying a quantitative measure of the equivalence of the different mental health datasets.
Our tool, Harmony, allows researchers to upload a set of mental health questionnaires in PDF or Excel format, such as the GAD-7 anxiety questionnaire. It identifies which questions among questionnaires are identical, similar in meaning, or antonyms of each other, and generates a network graph. This allows researchers to harmonise datasets.
Using Harmony, our team was able to conduct groundbreaking research into social isolation and anxiety with NLP supplying a quantitative measure of the equivalence of the different mental health datasets.