Health psychology researchers are looking for adults with type 2 diabetes to take part in a study using smartphones to explore health and well-being. Dr Sonya Deschênes is an Assistant Professor and Amy Mc Inerney is an Ad Astra PhD student and they are interested in how behavioural, lifestyle, and psychological factors interact and influence health and well-being in people with diabetes.
What is this research about?
This study uses a smartphone application (“app”) called Beiwe developed by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Many of us use our smartphones every day. In many cases, our smartphones know more about important health factors, like how much we move and rest each day, than our doctor does. In fact, this important behavioural information often cannot be measured accurately in a check-up with your GP. This research aims to harness the power of smartphone technology to measure health and well-being in a safe and ethical way that protects people’s privacy and data.
Why is this research important?
Using technology in this way offers great potential for assessing well-being outside the clinic, in an easy, cost-effective way. Smartphones collect information on how much we move each day and how much time we spend on our screen. Combining this information with questions asked by a smartphone app (like “how stressed are you feeling today?”) could help us better understand how well-being changes day-to-day.
Who can take part?
To take part you must: be over 18 and under 70 years of age; live in the Republic of Ireland; use a smartphone daily; and understand English. This study is particularly interested in recruiting people with type 2 diabetes, but anyone can take part.
What’s involved?
Participants in this study are asked to download the Beiwe smartphone app. The app asks brief questions each day (for example, “how did you sleep last night?”) and is provided with information from smartphone sensors (for example, in relation to screen-time and mobility). The app cannot access any other content from your smartphone, such as the websites you visit or what your text messages say. This study was approved by the UCD Human Research Ethics Committee and consists of not-for-profit research. The only aim is to learn how we can better assess, and ultimately improve, psychological well-being in the community.
For more information or to sign-up, please visit https://www.ucd.ie/psychology/research/projects/smartphonebehaviourmood/ or email Amy at amy.mcinerney@ucdconnect.ie.
