Adapting psychophysiological data collection for COVID‐19: The “Virtual Assessment” model

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic has significantly disrupted research activities globally. Researchers need safe and creative procedures to resume data collection, particularly for projects evaluating infant mental health interventions. Remote research is uniquely challenging for psychophysiological data collection, which typically requires close contact between researchers and participants as well as technical equipment frequently located in laboratory settings. In accordance with public health guidance, we adapted procedures and developed novel protocols for a “virtual assessment” in which women and infants provided behavioral and psychophysiological data from their own homes while researchers coordinated remotely. Data collected at virtual visits included video‐recorded parent–child interactions and autonomic nervous system data. Adaptations were designed to optimize safety and data quality while minimizing participant burden. In the current paper, we describe these adaptations and present data evaluating their success across two sites in the United States (University of Delaware and University of Utah), focusing specifically on autonomic nervous system data collected during the well‐validated Still‐Face Paradigm (SFP). We also discuss advantages and challenges of translating traditional lab procedures into the virtual assessment model. Ultimately, we hope that disseminating these procedures will help other researchers resume safe data collection related to infant mental health during the COVID‐19 pandemic and beyond.

Effects of an attachment‐based intervention on autonomic regulation among opioid‐exposed infants

“…Patterns of autonomic reactivity were similar across home and lab settings (Tabachnick et al, 2022), and community data suggest that intervention fidelity and effects on parenting were maintained in the transition to telehealth (Roben et al, 2022;Schein et al, 2022). Further information regarding RCT enrollment and attrition is provided in Supplement 1.…”

“…Data collection continued with remote assessment only (e.g., interviews by Zoom) until mid‐July 2020, when in‐person data collection resumed on a limited basis, with some families electing remote‐only or home assessments with virtual researcher support. Patterns of autonomic reactivity were similar across home and lab settings (Tabachnick et al., 2022), and community data suggest that intervention fidelity and effects on parenting were maintained in the transition to telehealth (Roben et al., 2022; Schein et al., 2022). Further information regarding RCT enrollment and attrition is provided in Supplement 1.…”

Maternal Mental Health and Infant Development During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Our study sample is socioeconomically diverse, and thus far we have found that mothers across the socioeconomic spectrum have been able to participate in the remote assessments. Remote assessments enable participants with fewer resources, who may have felt compelled to complete in-person assessments for compensation despite concerns about viral exposure, to receive the benefits of participation safely and autonomously, further reducing potential bias in the sample . In some geographic regions, it may be necessary to provide participants with mobile hotspots to ensure high-quality data collection.…”

“…Three primary goals should be considered when developing such protocols: (1) prioritizing safety of the participants and researchers, (2) optimizing data quality through pilot assessments and clear instructions for participants, and (3) minimizing participant burden by providing organized and simplified study materials . Following these principles, our ongoing COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes (COMBO) initiative administers a modified version of the Developmental Assessment of Young Child, Second Edition (DAYC-2), an observer-based assessment of infant neurodevelopment, through a Zoom session at 6 to 12 months of age.…”

Applying Research Domain Criteria to the study of emotion dysregulation in infancy and early childhood

“…Potential solutions to these barriers include remote assessments that can be conducted at a time convenient to the family. For example, in response to the pandemic, our lab (Gao et al, 2022) and others (Tabachnick et al, 2022) have found ways to support families by collecting physiological data in the home.…”