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Veteran Monitoring initiative for non-invasive physiology and depression (V-MIND). Assessing the feasibility of using wearable tech devices to monitor veterans' health outcomes: recruitment, retention, and data availability.
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital health technologies, including wearable devices like Fitbit, Garmin and WHOOP, are being increasingly explored for use within health settings across general population samples. Veterans represent a priority sub-population for such interventions, due to their elevated risk of adverse mental and physical health outcomes relative to the general population, unique barriers to accessing healthcare services and wider political interest in those who served. Wearable devices offer a discreet, cost-effective means of monitoring health outside formal clinical settings, with the potential to support personalised care. However, evidence exploring the feasibility and acceptability of these technologies for use in the veteran community is limited.
Objective:
To investigate the use of wearable technologies, integrating active (self-report) and passive (wearable sensor) data to improve symptom monitoring and prediction of UK veteran mental health outcomes.
Methods:
A longitudinal observational study examined the feasibility of collecting data from a non-clinical sample of UK veterans. The Garmin connect mobile app was used to collect passive data (e.g., heart rate, sleep, physical activity) from wearable devices continuously over 3 months (84 days). Participants used their own personal Garmin device (n = 4) or were provided with a Garmin Vivosmart-5 watch (n = 44). Active data collection of monthly mental health and well-being measures were completed at baseline, day 28, day 56 and day 84 via online surveys.
Results:
52 veterans were recruited, four of whom were withdrawn, leaving a total of 48 (92.31%) participants who provided both active and passive data across the study period. Findings indicate good feasibility, and the response rate for the monthly mental health and well-being questionnaire was 98.4%. Median daily watch wear time across all participants was 23.20 hours (7.9 to 23.87) and good retention of participants throughout the study period was evidenced by high average passive data completeness (80.96%).
Conclusions:
Results suggest that integrating passive and active data into symptom monitoring and novel intervention development for UK veterans’ mental health is both feasible and acceptable. Future research should investigate the clinical potential of digital technologies to enhance mental health care for veterans. Clinical Trial: N/A
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