Systematic review of smartphone-based passive sensing for health and wellbeing

Objective To review published empirical literature on the use of smartphone-based passive sensing for health and wellbeing. Material and methods A systematic review of the English language literature was performed following PRISMA guidelines. Papers indexed in computing, technology, and medical databases were included if they were empirical, focused on health and/or wellbeing, involved the collection of data via smartphones, and described the utilized technology as passive or requiring minimal user interaction. Results Thirty-five papers were included in the review. Studies were performed around the world, with samples of up to 171 (median n = 15) representing individuals with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, older adults, and the general population. The majority of studies used the Android operating system and an array of smartphone sensors, most frequently capturing accelerometry, location, audio, and usage data. Captured data were usually sent to a remote server for processing but were shared with participants in only 40% of studies. Reported benefits of passive sensing included accurately detecting changes in status, behavior change through feedback, and increased accountability in participants. Studies reported facing technical, methodological, and privacy challenges. Discussion Studies in the nascent area of smartphone-based passive sensing for health and wellbeing demonstrate promise and invite continued research and investment. Existing studies suffer from weaknesses in research design, lack of feedback and clinical integration, and inadequate attention to privacy issues. Key recommendations relate to developing passive sensing strategies matching the problem at hand, using personalized interventions, and addressing methodological and privacy challenges. Conclusion As evolving passive sensing technology presents new possibilities for health and wellbeing, additional research must address methodological, clinical integration, and privacy issues. Doing so depends on interdisciplinary collaboration between informatics and clinical experts.

Toward dynamic urban environmental exposure assessments in mental health research

There is a mental health crisis facing universities internationally. A growing body of interdisciplinary research has successfully demonstrated that using sensor and interaction data from students' smartphones can give insight into stress, depression, mood, suicide risk and more. The approach, which is sometimes termed Digital Phenotyping, has potential to transform how mental health and wellbeing can be monitored and understood. The approach could also transform how interventions are designed, delivered and evaluated. To date, little work has addressed the human and ethical side of digital phenotyping, including how students feel about being monitored. In this paper we report findings from in-depth focus groups, prototyping and interviews with students. We find they are positive about mental health technology, but also that there are multi-layered issues to address if digital phenotyping is to become acceptable. Using an acceptability framework, we set out the key design challenges that need to be addressed.

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Student Perspectives on Digital Phenotyping: The Acceptability of Using Smartphone Data to Assess Mental Health

Advances in commercial wearable devices are increasingly facilitating the collection and analysis of everyday physiological data. This article discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of usi...

Wearables and location tracking technologies for mental-state sensing in outdoor environments

The sociability score

1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 8 Mathematical abbreviations 8 Event abbreviations 8

Paul Eskes

Papers

The sociability score

The sociability score: app-based social profiling of students from a health-care perspective