Can consumer grade activity devices replace research grade actiwatches in youth mental health settings?

Abstract

Mental health services increasingly recognize the benefits of monitoring sleep and activity patterns in youth. Objective, ecological monitoring via research grade actiwatches is valid, but an emerging literature suggests using cheaper, consumer grade activity tracking devices. This study aimed to compare the cross-validity of these devices, and their feasibility and usability in youth mental health settings. A convenience sample of 13 individuals recruited from youth mental health settings wore a consumer grade and research grade activity device for seven consecutive days. The five most frequently reported sleep and activity variables extracted directly from each device were compared using paired t tests, mean average percentage errors, and magnitude and direction of biases. Ten individuals provided usable recordings of sleep and activity parameters. Compared to the actiwatch recordings (criterion values), the consumer grade device showed systematic biases in the recording of total sleep time (overestimated by about an hour) and waking after sleep onset (underestimated by about half an hour). The consumer grade device was most reliable for monitoring daytime sedentary behaviour. However, participant feedback indicated that youth preferred the consumer grade device. The findings suggest that it is inappropriate to substitute actiwatches with commercial activity trackers in research setting, as the latter are probably insufficient for precision diagnostics or stratification of cases into treatment relevant subgroups. Consumer grade devices are more acceptable to youth, so they may be clinically useful for monitoring intra-individual where absolute accuracy is not required.

Sleep, circadian rhythm, and physical activity patterns in depressive and anxiety disorders: A 2‐week ambulatory assessment study

“…Interpretation is also not always immediate (e.g., RA between day‐time and night time activity) and clinicians may need additional training for the use of devices in the clinical practice. Wearing research devices such as a GENEActiv device, may be experienced as stigmatizing as a patient may be asked for its use in public (Scott et al, ; Simblett et al, ). Popular commercial activity trackers are aesthetically pleasing and therefore maybe less stigmatizing, but at a cost of lower quality data—whether these devices are suitable for monitoring treatment effects is unknown (Scott et al, ).…”

“…Wearing research devices such as a GENEActiv device, may be experienced as stigmatizing as a patient may be asked for its use in public (Scott et al, ; Simblett et al, ). Popular commercial activity trackers are aesthetically pleasing and therefore maybe less stigmatizing, but at a cost of lower quality data—whether these devices are suitable for monitoring treatment effects is unknown (Scott et al, ). Currently, the majority of devices used in research settings need to be connected to a computer to download data and to extract variables with the use of specific software, resulting in a time‐consuming procedure.…”

Measuring circadian function in bipolar disorders: Empirical and conceptual review of physiological, actigraphic, and self‐report approaches

“…Reviewing a patient's actogram (eg, Figure 1), provides a detailed visualization of their activity patterns, and could be useful in dialogue with the patient to provide insight into unproductive activity or sleep‐related behavior, particularly when insight may be impaired 146 . Unlike chronotype, however, actigraphy is not common in clinical practice, except when a circadian rhythm sleep disorder is suspected, and may be considered stigmatizing by some patients 147,148 …”

Brief Research Report: A Pilot Study of Cognitive Behavioral Regulation Therapy (CBT-REG) for Young People at High Risk of Early Transition to Bipolar Disorders

“…Given the exploratory nature of this study, we included many different measurement scales (and some participants also used electronic monitoring) and findings from some of the observer, subjective and objective ratings have been reported elsewhere ( 8 , 17 , 24 , 25 ). Appendix 1 details the assessments, to summarize, we recorded-…”