Case Study: Digital Mental Health Study

Genesis
May 10
2 min read

My role: UX Researcher/ UX Research Operations Analyst

Timeline: 1 year

Introduction

The UCLA Depression Grand Challenge (DGC) is a campus initiative to transform understanding of depression and make effective treatments. Research efforts are focused on discovering depression causes and biology to develop targeted treatments. The DGC conducts various studies including the National Digital Mental Health Study (NDMH).

NDMH is a digital sensing study, in collaboration with Apple, to obtain objective health measures, including physical and mental health activity, sleep, and iOS device usage and interaction, and examine these factors in relation to symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Study Overview

Recruit 600 participants to participate in 6 months of data collection, including:

Daily Apple Watch wear
Completing tasks with Apple Health and Research applications
Responding to questionnaires

Study Timeline and Tasks

Participants were assigned daily, biweekly, and periodic tasks (every 8 weeks) to complete on their devices.

To get a better idea of the volume of data collected, here is a visualization of the data that was compiled over a 6 month period.

User Profile

Like the name of the study implies, 600 participants were recruited nationally.

The study recruitment was unique since there was no targeted user profile. Instead, one of the goals was to collect data from a diverse background of participants.

Eligibility factors included:

Current symptoms of depression
Age
Sex
Race
Ethnicity
Height and weight
State of residence

Notice

On account that the study content is highly confidential, I am unable to showcase specific details of my work. Instead, I have provided a brief summary of my contributions.

Please contact me to review my specific research approach and thought processes.

All information previously stated is publicly available here and here.

My Role

Due to the high volume of participants enrolled and data collected, I had a nontraditional UX Research role in this study. Instead, I had a hybrid role were I combined responsibilities of a UX Researcher and a UX Research Operations Analyst. I was responsible for instructing participants on how to perform the study tasks and ensuring that participants followed through with tasks until study completion.

Below is a brief summary of my responsibilities:

Onboard