WatchOver: Using Smartwatches to Understand and Address Substance Misuse in Young Adults

Adolescents and young adults are increasingly consuming substances at amount and frequencies that have serious consequences to mental health and physical wellbeing. The behavioral and contextual factors are poorly understood, with prior studies in this domain based on diaries, cross-sectional surveys, etc. To gain a better understanding of behaviors in the wild, we propose the use of Apple watches to collect Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and sensor data. Using this information, we intend to generate personalized models of substance use that can be used, at a later stage, to deploy interventions that seek to disengage individuals from substance abuse.

Papers

• Sahiti Kunchay, Ashley N. Linden-Carmichael, Stephanie T. Lanza, and Saeed Abdullah. (2022). Understanding Design Approaches and Evaluation Methods in mHealth Apps Targeting Substance Use: Protocol for a Systematic Review. JMIR Research Protocols.
• Sahiti Kunchay and Saeed Abdullah. (2020). WatchOver: using Apple watches to assess and predict substance co-use in young adults. UbiComp Adjunct.

Support

Support for this research is provided by the IST Seed Grant Award.

People

Sahiti Kunchay
Stephanie T. Lanza, Ph.D.
Ashley Linden-Carmichael, Ph.D.
Saeed Abdullah, Ph.D.

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