JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Undergraduate studies are challenging, and mental health issues can occur frequently in undergraduates, straining campus resources 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 to do this are not particularly well understood, especially in the Canadian context.

Objective:

The goal of this preliminary study was to deploy an initial version of the Smart Healthy Campus App, which collects a variety of data from sensors relevant to undergraduate lifestyle.

Methods:

This study was conducted as an observational app-based ecological momentary assessment. Undergraduates were recruited over e-mail and sampling using a custom 7-item questionnaire occurred on a weekly basis.

Results:

First, the 7-item Smart Healthy Campus questionnaire, derived from fully validated questionnaires such as the BRS, GAD-7, and DASS-21, is shown to significantly correlate with domains of these validated instruments, illustrating that it is a viable tool for a momentary assessment of an overview of undergraduate mental health. Second, the data collected through the app was analyzed. There were 312 weekly responses and 813 sensor samples from 139 participants from March 2019-March 2020; data collection concluded around the time COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. 97 (70%) participants only completed one survey - likely due to the absence of any incentive. Based on mean rank, students who showed more positive mental health through higher questionnaire scores tended to spend more time completing weekly questionnaires, showed more signs of physical activity based on pedometer readings, and had their devices running less and plugged in charging less when sampled. Additionally, based on mean rank, students sampled on-campus tended to report more positive mental health through higher questionnaire scores compared to those who were sampled off-campus. Some data from students found to be in or near residence were also briefly examined.

Conclusions:

Based on this limited data, participants tended to report a more positive overview of mental health when living on-campus and showing signs of higher levels of physical activity. These early findings, collected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, suggests device sensors related to physical activity and location are useful for monitoring undergraduates and designing interventions. Still, much more sensor data are needed, especially given the sweeping changes in undergraduate study resulting from COVID-19. As a result of this work, A 2nd edition of the Smart Healthy Campus app was implemented to allow for daily sampling, additional sensor readings, and an incentive system. This technology was also used to build an app to study undergraduates specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both apps have seen significantly more success.