Making the Grade: Mentors’ Perspectives of a Course-Based, Smart, Healthy Campus Pilot Project for Building Mental Health Resiliency Through Mentorship and Physical Activity

Fried, Rebecca R; Karmali, Shazya; Irwin, Jennifer D.; Gable, Francesca L.; Salmoni, Alan W.

doi:10.24384/000566

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…This preliminary SHC study was conducted as a weekly EMA, which overall is a digitized, compacted version of most aspects of an in-person SHC pilot study [1]. The main advantage of moving to an app-based format was to make everything accessible to hundreds or potentially thousands of undergraduates rather than only a small classroom-sized group.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The idea being that SHC would still collect responses from participants regarding depression, anxiety, and resilience, but the extent to which these might occur would be connected to potential indicators coming from data from device sensors, such as pedometers or GPS, rather than from the impact of a mentorship intervention. In the pilot study, depression and anxiety were identified as having a major negative impact on undergraduates [1], and resilience was identified as the capacity to help cope with difficult life situations [1]. Having objective indicators of these items from device sensors could allow for new interventions such as notifications, suggestions, or app-based mentors or assistants targeting and monitoring those sensors.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Having objective indicators of these items from device sensors could allow for new interventions such as notifications, suggestions, or app-based mentors or assistants targeting and monitoring those sensors. However, the questionnaires from the in-person study [1] for measuring these items would not fit well in an app format.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Undergraduate study is demanding, and students often feel overwhelmed by their obligations [1]. Depression and anxiety frequently occur in undergraduate students [2], and these issues lead to decreased student experience [1] and strain on existing health resources [3]. Somatic health problems on their own are a major burden for universities [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The survey is a 7-item questionnaire that provides an overview of mental health and is included in Multimedia Appendix 1. The 7 questions were assembled from longer validated questionnaires [1]. The version of the app deployed at the time of writing contained a transaction-based sensor data collection system that captured readings relevant to aspects of lifestyle, which could be potential indicators of a student's mental health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Mobile App to Identify Lifestyle Indicators Related to Undergraduate Mental Health (Smart Healthy Campus): Observational App-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment (Preprint)

Brogly¹,

Shoemaker²,

Lizotte³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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BACKGROUND Undergraduate studies are challenging, and mental health issues can frequently occur in undergraduate students, straining campus resources that are 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 this can be done are not particularly well understood, especially in the Canadian context. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to deploy an initial version of the Smart Healthy Campus app at Western University, Canada, and to analyze corresponding data for associations between psychosocial factors (measured by a questionnaire) and behaviors associated with lifestyle (measured by smartphone sensors). METHODS This preliminary study was conducted as an observational app-based ecological momentary assessment. Undergraduate students were recruited over email, 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 Brief Resilience Scale; General Anxiety Disorder-7; and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale–21—was shown to significantly correlate with the mental health domains of these validated questionnaires, illustrating that it is a viable tool for a momentary assessment of an overview of undergraduate mental health. Second, data collected through the app were analyzed. There were 312 weekly responses and 813 sensor samples from 139 participants from March 2019 to March 2020; data collection concluded when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Demographic information was not collected in this preliminary study because of technical limitations. Approximately 69.8% (97/139) of participants only completed one survey, possibly because of the absence of any incentive. Given the limited amount of data, analysis was not conducted with respect to time, so all data were analyzed as a single collection. On the basis of mean rank, students showing more positive mental health through higher questionnaire scores tended to spend more time completing questionnaires, showed more signs of physical activity based on pedometers, and had their devices running less and plugged in charging less when sampled. In addition, based on mean rank, students on campus tended to report more positive mental health through higher questionnaire scores compared with those who were sampled off campus. Some data from students found in or near residences were also briefly examined. CONCLUSIONS Given these limited data, participants tended to report a more positive overview of mental health when on campus and when showing signs of higher levels of physical activity. These early findings suggest that device sensors related to physical activity and location are useful for monitoring undergraduate students and designing interventions. However, much more sensor data are needed going forward, especially given the sweeping changes in undergraduate studies due to COVID-19.

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Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%