TY  - JOUR
AU  - Yunusova, Asal
AU  - Lai, Jocelyn
AU  - Rivera, Alexander P
AU  - Hu, Sirui
AU  - Labbaf, Sina
AU  - Rahmani, Amir M
AU  - Dutt, Nikil
AU  - Jain, Ramesh C
AU  - Borelli, Jessica L
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/3/2
TI  - Assessing the Mental Health of Emerging Adults Through a Mental Health App: Protocol for a Prospective Pilot Study
JO  - JMIR Res Protoc
SP  - e25775
VL  - 10
IS  - 3
KW  - ecological momentary assessment
KW  - stress
KW  - digital mental health
KW  - college student
KW  - mental health
KW  - protocol
KW  - prospective
KW  - feasibility
KW  - individual
KW  - factors
KW  - sleepy
KW  - physiology
KW  - activity
KW  - COVID-19
AB  - Background: Individuals can experience different manifestations of the same psychological disorder. This underscores the need for a personalized model approach in the study of psychopathology. Emerging adulthood is a developmental phase wherein individuals are especially vulnerable to psychopathology. Given their exposure to repeated stressors and disruptions in routine, the emerging adult population is worthy of investigation. Objective: In our prospective study, we aim to conduct multimodal assessments to determine the feasibility of an individualized approach for understanding the contextual factors of changes in daily affect, sleep, physiology, and activity. In other words, we aim to use event mining to predict changes in mental health. Methods: We expect to have a final sample size of 20 participants. Recruited participants will be monitored for a period of time (ie, between 3 and 12 months). Participants will download the Personicle app on their smartphone to track their activities (eg, home events and cycling). They will also be given wearable sensor devices (ie, devices that monitor sleep, physiology, and physical activity), which are to be worn continuously. Participants will be asked to report on their daily moods and provide open-ended text responses on a weekly basis. Participants will be given a battery of questionnaires every 3 months. Results: Our study has been approved by an institutional review board. The study is currently in the data collection phase. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the study was adjusted to allow for remote data collection and COVID-19–related stress assessments. Conclusions: Our study will help advance research on individualized approaches to understanding health and well-being through multimodal systems. Our study will also demonstrate the benefit of using individualized approaches to study interrelations among stress, social relationships, technology, and mental health. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/25775 
SN  - 1929-0748
UR  - https://www.researchprotocols.org/2021/3/e25775
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/25775
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33513124
DO  - 10.2196/25775
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/25775
ER  -