Brogly Chris, Shoemaker J Kevin, Lizotte Daniel J, Kueper Jacqueline K, Bauer Michael
Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
JMIR Form Res. 2021 Oct 19;5(10):e29160. doi: 10.2196/29160.
Undergraduate studies are challenging, and mental health issues can frequently occur in undergraduate students, straining campus resources that are already in demand for somatic problems. Cost-effective measures with ubiquitous devices, such as smartphones, offer the potential to deliver targeted interventions to monitor and affect lifestyle, which may result in improvements to student mental health. However, the avenues by which this can be done are not particularly well understood, especially in the Canadian context.
The aim of this study is to deploy an initial version of the Smart Healthy Campus app at Western University, Canada, and to analyze corresponding data for associations between psychosocial factors (measured by a questionnaire) and behaviors associated with lifestyle (measured by smartphone sensors).
This preliminary study was conducted as an observational app-based ecological momentary assessment. Undergraduate students were recruited over email, and sampling using a custom 7-item questionnaire occurred on a weekly basis.
First, the 7-item Smart Healthy Campus questionnaire, derived from fully validated questionnaires-such as the Brief Resilience Scale; General Anxiety Disorder-7; and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21-was shown to significantly correlate with the mental health domains of these validated questionnaires, illustrating that it is a viable tool for a momentary assessment of an overview of undergraduate mental health. Second, data collected through the app were analyzed. There were 312 weekly responses and 813 sensor samples from 139 participants from March 2019 to March 2020; data collection concluded when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Demographic information was not collected in this preliminary study because of technical limitations. Approximately 69.8% (97/139) of participants only completed one survey, possibly because of the absence of any incentive. Given the limited amount of data, analysis was not conducted with respect to time, so all data were analyzed as a single collection. On the basis of mean rank, students showing more positive mental health through higher questionnaire scores tended to spend more time completing questionnaires, showed more signs of physical activity based on pedometers, and had their devices running less and plugged in charging less when sampled. In addition, based on mean rank, students on campus tended to report more positive mental health through higher questionnaire scores compared with those who were sampled off campus. Some data from students found in or near residences were also briefly examined.
Given these limited data, participants tended to report a more positive overview of mental health when on campus and when showing signs of higher levels of physical activity. These early findings suggest that device sensors related to physical activity and location are useful for monitoring undergraduate students and designing interventions. However, much more sensor data are needed going forward, especially given the sweeping changes in undergraduate studies due to COVID-19.
本科学习具有挑战性，心理健康问题在本科生中经常出现，这给本就因躯体问题而需求不断的校园资源带来了压力。使用智能手机等普及设备采取具有成本效益的措施，有可能提供有针对性的干预措施，以监测和影响生活方式，这可能会改善学生的心理健康。然而，实现这一目标的途径尚未得到充分理解，尤其是在加拿大的背景下。
本研究的目的是在加拿大西安大略大学部署智能健康校园应用程序的初始版本，并分析心理社会因素（通过问卷调查测量）与生活方式相关行为（通过智能手机传感器测量）之间关联的相应数据。
这项初步研究作为基于应用程序的观察性生态瞬时评估进行。通过电子邮件招募本科生，并每周使用定制的7项问卷进行抽样。
首先，源自经过充分验证的问卷（如简短复原力量表、广泛性焦虑障碍-7量表以及抑郁、焦虑和压力量表-21）的7项智能健康校园问卷，被证明与这些经过验证的问卷的心理健康领域显著相关，这表明它是一个用于瞬时评估本科学生心理健康概况的可行工具。其次，对通过该应用程序收集的数据进行了分析。从2019年3月到2020年3月，139名参与者有312次每周回复和813个传感器样本；当COVID-19被宣布为大流行病时，数据收集结束。由于技术限制，本初步研究未收集人口统计学信息。大约69.8%（97/139）的参与者只完成了一次调查，可能是因为缺乏任何激励措施。鉴于数据量有限，未按时间进行分析；因此，所有数据作为单一集合进行分析。根据平均排名，通过较高问卷分数显示出更积极心理健康的学生往往花费更多时间完成问卷，基于计步器显示出更多身体活动迹象，并且在采样时其设备运行时间更短、充电插电时间更少。此外，根据平均排名，与校外采样的学生相比，校内学生往往通过较高问卷分数报告更积极的心理健康。还简要检查了在宿舍内或附近发现的一些学生的数据。
鉴于这些有限的数据，参与者在校园内以及显示出较高身体活动水平迹象时，往往报告心理健康状况更为积极。这些早期发现表明，与身体活动和位置相关的设备传感器对于监测本科生和设计干预措施很有用。然而，未来需要更多的传感器数据，特别是考虑到COVID-19给本科学习带来的巨大变化。
