Smartphone-based Wellness Assessment Using Mobile Environmental Sensor

TL;DR

This study introduces a smartphone-based system that collects environmental data and psychological surveys to explore correlations between environment and wellness, demonstrating potential for personalized mental health assessment.

Contribution

It presents a novel integrated system combining mobile sensors and psychological surveys for environmental and mental health monitoring.

Findings

Significant correlation between light, audio levels, and stress.

Feasibility of using smartphones for environmental data collection in mental health.

Successful deployment with 62 participants across three experiments.

Abstract

Mental health and general wellness are becoming a growing concern in our society. Environmental factors contribute to mental illness and have the power to affect a person's wellness. This work presents a smartphone-based wellness assessment system and examines if there is any correlation with one's environment and their wellness. The introduced system was initiated in response to a growing need for individualized and independent mental health care and evaluated through experimentation. The participants were given an Android smartphone and a mobile sensor board and they were asked to complete a brief psychological survey three times per day. During the survey completion, the board in their possession is reading environmental data. The five environmental variables collected are temperature, humidity, air pressure, luminosity, and noise level. Upon submission of the survey, the results of the survey and the environmental data are sent to a server for further processing. Three experiments with 62 participants in total have been completed. The correlation most regularly deemed statistically significant was that of light and audio and stress.