Passive Sensing at Scale to Transform Understanding of Poor Mental Health

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bucci S ; Doherty A ; Kenny A ; Kotov R ; Lipinska G ; Ospina-Pinillos L ; Schultebraucks K
• Description:
  Passive sensing devices such as smartphones and wearables provide a major opportunity to transform our understanding of the mechanisms, determinants, and consequences of poor mental health. A fifth of US adults own wearable technologies such as smartwatches and fitness trackers, which typically have embedded sensors, such as accelerometers, that can continuously, non-invasively, and painlessly measure traits that are relevant to mental health (eg, physical activity, sleep, and circadian rhythm). If used effectively, this high-quality, health-relevant data could improve understanding of and early interventions for poor mental health and reduce barriers that researchers and clinicians experience when starting or continuing to use digital technologies for mental health. However, given the complexity of mental health measurement, key challenges should also be addressed so that data from smartphones and wearables can reliably inform future care for people with poor mental health. ... Smartphones and wearables can improve how we predict, prevent, detect, and treat poor mental health. However, large-scale biobanks containing standardised measurements for populations with a high burden of poor mental health are needed. Supported by diverse validation datasets to address device heterogeneity and ethical guidance, we could reliably establish whether passive sensing can inform the future care of people with poor mental health. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Sleep
• Keywords:
  Activity Levels Medical Monitoring Mental Health Sensors Wearable Technologies
• ISSN:
  2589-7500
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; New York City Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  7
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070743
• Citation:
  Lancet Digit Health 2025 Mar; 7(3):e172-e174
• Contact Point Address:
  Aiden Doherty. Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK
• Email:
  aiden.doherty@ndph.ox.ac.uk
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Performing Organization:
  State University of New York - Stony Brook
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20230701
• Source Full Name:
  The Lancet Digital Health
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:56aa117a11534cc284d7622501abbc94ac9845197b9c907a7e86904e91fc0888a022551eead9e66309ed657dfe2f14a8251a20691816b69c459dd8d88e49b890
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208912/cdc_208912_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 68.21 KB ]