Currently submitted to: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Aug 20, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 17, 2026 - Nov 12, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Identifying User Profiles and Emotional Trajectories in a Youth Mental Health Self-Help App: An Exploratory Feasibility Study Using Clustering and Transition Analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
Reports of mental health complaints among young people have increased substantially, yet the prevalence of psychiatric disorders has remained comparatively stable. This suggests a growing need for low-threshold digital support that reaches young people before problems escalate.
Objective:
This exploratory feasibility study examined whether weekly emotional and behavioral profiles could identify meaningful subgroups of Feelee self-help app users, and whether transition probabilities between these subgroups reveal interpretable patterns of emotional well-being over time.
Methods:
Data were drawn from 4,888 users (predominantly aged 15-25 years) who completed repeated brief self-report surveys alongside passively collected smartphone sensor data. K-means clustering was used to identify weekly user profiles, and Markov chain transition analyses were used to examine week-to-week movement between profiles during the first month of app use.
Results:
K-means clustering yielded five distinct profiles differing in emotional valence, behavioral activity, social engagement, and within-week variability. Transition analyses revealed patterned, theoretically coherent movement between profiles, with early usage patterns appearing indicative of longer-term trajectories.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that data-driven user profiling is feasible within a naturalistic self-help app context and may inform the development of personalized digital mental health support for youth. Clinical Trial: N.A.
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