Examining Passively Collected Smartphone-Based Data in the Days Prior to Psychiatric Hospitalization for a Suicidal Crisis: Comparative Case Analysis
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Digital phenotyping has seen a broad increase in application across clinical research; however, little research has implemented passive assessment approaches for suicide risk detection. There is a significant potential for a novel form of digital phenotyping, termed screenomics, which captures smartphone activity via screenshots. OBJECTIVE: This paper focuses on a comprehensive case review of 2 participants who reported past 1-month active suicidal ideation, detailing their passive (ie, obtained via screenomics screenshot capture) and active (ie, obtained via ecological momentary assessment [EMA]) risk profiles that culminated in suicidal crises and subsequent psychiatric hospitalizations. Through this analysis, we shed light on the timescale of risk processes as they unfold before hospitalization, as well as introduce the novel application of screenomics within the field of suicide research. METHODS: To underscore the potential benefits of screenomics in comprehending suicide risk, the analysis concentrates on a specific type of data gleaned from screenshots-text-captured prior to hospitalization, alongside self-reported EMA responses. Following a comprehensive baseline assessment, participants completed an intensive time sampling period. During this period, screenshots were collected every 5 seconds while one's phone was in use for 35 days, and EMA data were collected 6 times a day for 28 days. In our analysis, we focus on the following: suicide-related content (obtained via screenshots and EMA), risk factors theoretically and empirically relevant to suicide risk (obtained via screenshots and EMA), and social content (obtained via screenshots). RESULTS: Our analysis revealed several key findings. First, there was a notable decrease in EMA compliance during suicidal crises, with both participants completing fewer EMAs in the days prior to hospitalization. This contrasted with an overall increase in phone usage leading up to hospitalization, which was particularly marked by heightened social use. Screenomics also captured prominent precipitating factors in each instance of suicidal crisis that were not well detected via self-report, specifically physical pain and loneliness. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary findings underscore the potential of passively collected data in understanding and predicting suicidal crises. The vast number of screenshots from each participant offers a granular look into their daily digital interactions, shedding light on novel risks not captured via self-report alone. When combined with EMA assessments, screenomics provides a more comprehensive view of an individual's psychological processes in the time leading up to a suicidal crisis.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.004 | 0.018 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.007 | 0.003 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".