Health Outcomes through Positive Engagement and Self-Empowerment (HOPES)
16 July 2026
HOPES is a national initiative that empowers individuals to manage their mental health in everyday life – not just during clinic visits. It combines self-directed care, digital tools, and clinical support to ensure timely care when it matters most.
Co-developed and driven by MOHT and the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), HOPES combines IMH’s clinical expertise with MOHT’s role in care model innovation, technology enablement and programme scaling.
HOPES (also known as HOPES Care) is a programme designed to support individuals with mental health needs through continuous care and practical tools. The platform combines continuous passive monitoring with user-reported inputs to build a comprehensive picture of an individual’s wellbeing. It uses digital phenotyping to gather behavioural and physiological signals – such as heart rate, physical activity, sociability indicators, and sleep patterns – alongside active inputs like mood logs and journalling. Through a hybrid approach of machine learning and clinician-defined rules, the platform detects early signs of deterioration and delivers personalised digital interventions, such as therapeutic prompts or exercises. If concerning signals persist or worsen, HOPES escalates care by alerting clinicians via a dedicated dashboard, enabling timely support and strengthening ongoing patient-clinician engagement.
Aim Statement
To empower individuals to actively manage their mental wellbeing through digital sensing and engagement with self-directed activities, while enabling clinicians to intervene promptly by providing visibility of patients’ needs between clinic visits.
Why It Matters
In 2021, mental disorders were the fourth leading cause of disease burden in Singapore, measured by Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). Mental healthcare incurs significant direct and indirect costs. Severe conditions like schizophrenia relapse in ~40% of cases within six months, disrupting recovery and leading to prolonged, costly hospital stays. Anxiety and depression caused S$15.7 billion in productivity loss from absenteeism and presenteeism in 2023. In this context, HOPES Care digital phenotyping enables continuous data sharing with clinicians, facilitating timely interventions, personalised care, and stronger therapeutic relationships. With the integration of bring-your-own-device and the launch of the HOPES app, mental health self-care tools are made more accessible to Singaporean users, including those with less severe needs.
Summary
Population: General population as well as patients with diagnosed mental health conditions under the care of IMH and residing in the community
Intervention: Digital education and therapeutic exercises; automated digital therapeutic prompts; patient prioritisation and clinician alerts via rules-based and machine learning algorithms
Comparator: Usual care, with reliance on existing case management and scheduled clinic reviews
Outcomes: Improved patient self-management, enhanced clinician confidence in care delivery, fewer relapses, shorter hospital stays, enhanced therapeutic relationships between patients and clinicians under HOPES Care
Key Results To Date
HOPES Care service maturity:
IMH continues scaling HOPES within its clinical services, with progressive rollout and increasing clinician and patient adoption
185 patients enrolled across seven IMH departments (as of 21 June 2026)
Significant patient engagement and data quality: > 53% mobile and > 30% wearable data capture
Among 100 patients who completed the programme, 81% reported increased confidence in self-management
Post-analysis shows statistically significant improvements across CGI, PGI, GAF, PHQ-9, and MHCS; control group evaluation ongoing
Early analyses show associations between digital phenotyping markers (e.g. mobility, sleep) and mental health symptoms
Launch of HOPES App:
> 300 non-critical patients onboarded within 4 months (as of 21 June 2026)
High patient engagement, supporting scalable adoption in the general population
Emerging links between Ecological Momentary Assessments, app usage, and symptom changes (WHO-5, GAD-7, PHQ-9)
Overall:
Demonstrates clinical impact, promising patient engagement, and scalability, supporting HOPES as a viable model for data-driven mental healthcare in Singapore