Improving Mental Health in Youth and Lowering Risk for Obesity Through a Digital Preventative Product

The Vira app is installed on the participant's phone. The app passively collects data from phone sensors (i.e., measures of physical activity, sleep patterns, mobility, and language patterns reflecting mood states and cognition) that are indicative of risk-relevant behavioral patterns and psychological states. It also so prompts users to answer a daily check in question. Mobile sensing data are processed to provide an automated assessment of the user's functioning. Users will be asked to use Vira for 12 weeks.

"The Vira app can also be supported by a health coach. The health coach interacts with the user (via an instant messaging platform) and who also schedules just-in-time reminders (i.e., nudges) to arrive in the user's phone at scheduled times to support their behavior change plan. The Vira Health Coach Platform therefore integrates mobile sensing, self-report assessment, and just-in-time nudges and notifications into the coach's workflow."