JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

2020 has been a year of tremendous tumult for multiple groups, but young adults have been particularly affected by the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging adulthood is a developmental phase characterized by multiple shifts in identity as well as significant changes in the patterns of daily living – as such, it is a risky phase for the onset of major mental illness but also a developmental window of opportunity. Individuals who are college students during the time of COVID-19 face significant risk in terms of being in the midst of a developmental transition and then losing several factors that are stabilizing (e.g., housing, routine, social support, job and financial security) for mental health and well-being.

Objective:

Multimodal chronicles of mental health present an opportunity to examine indicators of health in an ongoing and personalized way using mobile sensing devices and wearable internet-of-things. In this paper, in order to provide an in-depth examination of the impact of COVID-19 through the utility of multimodal personal health chronicles, we present a case study of a college student monitored using a multimodal health navigator system over a nine-month period throughout 2020 spanning pre-COVID-19 period to deep into the pandemic.

Methods:

As part of a larger on-going study, we recruited college students to participate in a longitudinal study to understand feasibility of using a multimodal approach to examining idiographic nuances of mental health. Each participant completed a battery of mental health assessments at the onset of the study and were paired with non-invasive wearable devices to track sleep, activity, and physiology. Throughout the nine-month period and ongoing, students completed daily assessments of emotion, COVID-worries, and each week completed an open-ended response on how their week has been. From this data, we focus on a single individual to elaborate possibilities using multimodal data in mental health settings and treatment.

Results:

We use the data emerging from the multimodal personal chronicle to understand patterns that help to explicate dramatic increases in the case study participant’s depression scores and from pre- to early COVID-19, focusing in on two periods within the COVID-19 period, a period of relative calm and a period of tumult. The participant reported experiencing stressors and large-life adjustments due to COVID-19, and from the two periods, we examine factors from subjective reporting that may be relevant to observances made regarding their objective data collected from the wearable devices. Using the provide in the loop model, we state recommendations generated by the provider after viewing the data from the mental health navigator system.

Conclusions:

Using this case study as a platform, we discuss future directions of this system and the conclusions we can draw regarding COVID-19 and college student mental health.