Missing data in mental health research using surveys and passive sensors on smartphones

What is it about?

Missing data poses substantial challenges to longitudinal research on mental health. This study worked to characterize patterns of missing data among adolescents with psychiatric disorders and at risk for suicide, in particular missingness of smartphone-based surveys and measurements passively collected from participants’ smartphones (e.g., global positioning system, accelerometer, and keyboard). Findings highlight key technical and study design factors that should be considered to minimize missing data and maximize the validity of results in future longitudinal studies using smartphones.

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Photo by Michail Sapiton on Unsplash

Photo by Michail Sapiton on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Missing data is a key challenge for research on mental health, especially if the goal is to understand how symptoms change over time. This research looks to understand patterns of missing data in studies using smartphones so that future work can be better optimized for precision and validity.