Strengthening Health and Improving Emotional Defenses (SHIELD) Navy SBIR FY2015.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2015.1 Topic No.: N151-077 Topic Title: Strengthening Health and Improving Emotional Defenses (SHIELD) Proposal No.: N151-077-0193 Firm: Charles River Analytics Inc. 625 Mount Auburn Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Contact: Victoria Romero Phone: (617) 491-3474 Abstract: The psychological stress experienced by Marines has a profound impact on health and performance that reaches beyond the individual; it affects job performance, interactions with family and peers, and may lead to increased prevalence of substance abuse and misconduct. The DoD has devoted substantial resources to developing stress prevention and resilience programs to combat the effects of stress; however, there is limited evidence to justify the cost and scope of these programs. To maximize their effectiveness, the Marine Corps needs low-cost, evidence-based training options that integrate effectively with existing wellness programs. To provide this capability, we propose to design and demonstrate a portable psychological flexibility program for Strengthening Health and Improving Emotional Defenses (SHIELD). SHIELD is a comprehensive approach based on the latest evidence-based strategies from mindfulness-based stress reduction, cognitive behavioral stress management, relaxation response training, and yoga to train Marines to develop psychological flexibility and promote healthy responses to adverse and stressful events. The evidence-based SHIELD curriculum will be supported through independent and group training sessions. A mobile application using biometric data collected from sensors embedded in smartphones, combined with content delivery and user feedback and evaluation, will build a composite of individual stress-levels to guide personalized training objectives. Benefits: We expect the full-scope SHIELD program to have immediate and tangible benefits for Marines and Warfighters across the DoD. SHIELD will provide a low-cost, non-invasive sensing, assessment, and treatment option for training psychological flexibility and enhancing the resilience and performance of the Marine Corps. We also see a commercially viable market selling SHIELD as an application for stress management in the growing mobile app marketplace, particularly for individuals with high-stress jobs and positions (e.g., first responders, disaster relief). Finally, SHIELD will contribute several technical improvements to our HumanSenseT platform, increasing its appeal as a commercial product. Return