Exploring User Willingness towards Mobile Sensing and Intervention: A Case Study on Mental Health of Undergraduate College Students

Mobile sensing and interventions have been a growing resource towards tracking and supporting mental health conditions. Most participants in research studies are willing to share and receive various forms of information with the app/researchers owing to external incentives. As we explore translating such work as a university or organization-level design for mental health apps, it is imperative to understand user preferences and openness to share different active/passive sensors and responses to different notifications. At a personal level mobile health features could provide valuable insights to an interested user. Additionally, quantifying the prevalence of such users at an organizational level can drive decisions on inclusive app design by the organization for its stakeholders. Through a survey-driven approach we explore user preferences and characterize personas of different users to promote the design of a mental health app for students in a large-scale university in the US. We find that while most users are generally open to share certain data, their preferences significantly vary by each sensor and that those who share one modality are very likely to share others.