Leveraging Digital Solutions to Promote Mental Well-Being in Singapore

Health Promotion Board (HPB) was established as a statutory board under the Ministry of Health, Singapore, in 2001 with the vision of building “A Nation of Healthy People”.  HPB is the key agency in public health and aims to empower Singaporeans to attain optimal health, increase the quality and years of healthy life and prevent illness, disability and premature death.  This is done through health education, promotion and prevention programmes as well as creating a health-supportive environment in Singapore.

Recognising that digital solutions increases access to personalised self-help support, HPB has embraced an array of technological innovations such as the use of wearables to track lifestyle behaviours, lifestyle applications and online information portal to enable healthy lifestyle, encompassing both physical and mental well-being.  Additionally, HPB supports the Singapore National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy in establishing a supportive environment for mental well-being by equipping people with essential skillsets to provide emotional support to those they care for.

There are three key areas where HPB leverages the digital space to promote mental well-being in Singapore:

i) Enhancing mental health literacy

MindSG, a one-stop online portal for Singapore residents on mental health and well-being

HPB developed MindSG, a one-stop online portal provides that provides Singapore residents with credible self-help resources and information on mental health and well-being.  Developed in collaboration with other government agencies in Singapore, it pulls together content curated by mental health experts and offers convenient access to resources that can support individuals in looking after their own mental well-being and caring for their loved ones.  Users may also assess their own stress levels and mental health risks, and search for mental health support or services based on their needs.

To facilitate help-seeking, HPB employs digital marketing techniques, specifically, Native discovery and Search Engine Marketing to guide individuals who are actively seeking mental health information or support online to relevant resources on MindSG. This approach ensures that those in need can easily find and access appropriate mental health services and information.

Campaign amplification through digital and social media platforms

HPB drives mental health literacy campaigns to increase mental health literacy, encourage help-seeking behaviour, and equip residents with skillsets for supporting others. These campaigns adopt a multi-channel approach, leveraging high-visibility media channels to maximise their reach and impact. Key among these channels are social media platforms, which allow for wide dissemination of information and engagement with diverse audiences. HPB also collaborates strategically with online content publishers and influencers, harnessing their reach and credibility to amplify campaign messages.

ii) Improving coping ability through self-directed activities

They are currently two lifestyle applications by HPB that promotes holistic health including mental well-being.

Healthy 365 app

Healthy 365 is a free health and wellness tracking mobile application developed by HPB to encourage users to adopt a healthier lifestyle through digital offerings, gamification and rewards.  The app pairs with HPB-issued trackers and commercial fitness tracking devices to track physical activity and sleep. 

Users can set personalised activity goals, and the app periodically prompts users to review their physical activity and sleep duration goals. Personalised nudges are sent to remind and encourage users to perform and sustain healthy actions.  This is coupled gamification and rewards to enhance users’ experience.  For example, to encourage sufficient daily sleep for physical and mental well-being, an ongoing milestone-based challenge is organised where users are rewarded with Healthpoints when they meet sleep duration milestones.  Healthpoints can be used to redeem a variety of rewards including e-vouchers at dining and grocery stores.  Through this Challenge, users are supported to progressively increase their sleep duration to meet the recommended sleep duration of about 7 to 9 hours for adults based on guidelines by the US National Sleep Foundation.

LumiHealth app

LumiHealth is a partnership between HPB and Apple, and is a free, personalised health programme to encourage the adoption of healthy habits through curated health challenges, activity coaching and incentives.  Created in collaboration with a team of physicians and public health experts, LumiHealth encourages healthy lifestyle changes, and is designed with privacy and security built in.

LumiHealth focuses on the individual’s holistic health and wellness, including mental well-being and sleep.   Participants are encouraged to adopt healthy habits for mental well-being through Quests that build positivity, gratitude and social connections.  Participants are guided on everyday actions such as mindfulness, journalling and reflection exercises for well-being and through gamification, participants can also be rewarded with e-vouchers that can be used at lifestyle grocery and dining partners for completing challenges.

iii) Upskilling individuals to support others

HPB offers a comprehensive peer support training programme designed to enhance awareness, skills, and competencies in providing emotional support to others. The training programme caters to supporters from different settings including schools, workplaces, and community volunteer groups.  To increase access to peer support training, HPB is transforming the training into online e-learning modules and targeting to roll out later this year.    Beyond basic peer support training, further e-learning modules will also be developed for trained supporters to cover specific topics such as managing anxiety, anger and transitions to deepen their supportive skillsets based on specific interests and roles.

HPB’s innovative use of digital solutions to promote mental well-being in Singapore is the start of the longer journey to harness the huge potential of digital offerings.  In the coming years, HPB will expand its digital solutions as a key strategy to move towards our vision of building “A Nation of Healthy People” who are mentally resilient.