RESEARCH THEME

MIND-BODY INTEGRATION

The Need

There is a growing recognition that physical and mental health conditions are interlinked. For example:

  • 30-50% of children with epilepsy have co-occurring psychiatric conditions.
  • Children with asthma have an increased incidence of mental health conditions.
  • 25% of adolescents with diabetes experience clinical depression;
  • Hospitalisation for infection is associated with an increased risk of a mood disorder.
  • 80% of parents whose babies were admitted to neonatal care suffer mental illness and babies with a history of neonatal intensive care experience twice the rate of subsequent psychiatric conditions.
  • Post-COVID there has been a 20% increase in demand for mental health support in under-18s, placing unbearable strain on paediatric mental health services. NICE guidelines recognise the urgency of developing digital mental health interventions for children and young people.

Theme Focus

The Mind-Body Integration theme aims to develop novel technologies to deliver an integrated approach to healthcare through interfacing physical and mental health.

This theme draws on extensive patient and public involvement and engagement, and cross-cuts across our other themes to ensure the link between mental and physical health is considered across our portfolio of projects.

This theme has three areas of focus:

  1. Developing advanced physiological monitoring to quantify and modify care.
  2. Optimising measures of physical and mental development.
  3. Targeted treatments that provide engaging and widely accessible approaches for emotional regulation in children and young people.

Case Studies

An app to support the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people with a sibling in the neonatal unit

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A mobile app to support the mental health of neonatal parents using evidence-based, compassion-focused psychological techniques

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Team

PROF PAUL FLETCHER

CO-THEME LEAD

Professor Paul Fletcher trained in medicine and psychiatry before completing a PhD in cognitive neuroscience. He is the Bernard Wolfe Professor of Health Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and a Wellcome Trust Investigator. Paul is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Clare College Cambridge, and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

DR KATHRYN BEARDSALL

CO-THEME LEAD

Dr Kathryn Beardsall is a Consultant Neonatologist at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and a Lecturer at the University of Cambridge. Kathryn has considerable clinical trial experience and is driven by a belief that babies deserve to benefit from innovations in technology that could improve their care.

MARIJA DRINJAKOVIĆ

PROJECT MANAGER

Marija Drinjakovic is the Translational Research Project Manager at the University of Cambridge, where she facilitates interdisciplinary collaborations to drive innovation in healthcare. Marija is also the Project Manager for our Mind-Body Integration theme, co-ordinating the development of projects and novel technologies that unite physical and mental health to support holistic approaches to health care.

© 2026 NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Paediatrics and Child Health