Observational studyJournal of medical Internet research2021
Investigating Associations Between Screen Time and Symptomatology in Individuals With Serious Mental Illness: Longitudinal Observational Study.
Observational study in Journal of medical Internet research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Digital phenotyping for mental health conditions: a systematic review of implementation and application.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Pooled it
- Digital Phenotyping in Health Research: Scoping Review of Methods, Gaps, and Opportunities.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Using Smartphone-Based Digital Phenotyping to Predict Relapse in Serious Mental Disorders Among Slum Residents in Dhaka, Bangladesh: Protocol for a Machine Learning Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- The impact of algorithm-driven exposure to disease-related short videos on rehabilitation outcomes in lumbar disc herniation patients: content heterogeneity and psychological mediating mechanisms.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Interpersonal conflicts, social media use and depression associated with protests.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- Toward Digital Self-Monitoring of Mental Health in the General Population: Scoping Review of Existing Approaches to Self-Report Measurement.JMIR mental health · 2025Article
- Exploring current smartphone-based cognitive assessments in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2024Review
- Utilizing Technology to Enhance the Ecological Validity of Cognitive and Functional Assessments in Schizophrenia: An Overview of the State-of-the-Art.Schizophrenia bulletin open · 2024Article
- Associations between digital media use and psychotic experiences in young adults of Quebec, Canada: a longitudinal study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- Accessibility and availability of smartphone apps for schizophrenia.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2022Article
- Digital Phenotyping in Health Using Machine Learning Approaches: Scoping Review.JMIR bioinformatics and biotechnology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIncreasing screen time exposure from digital devices like smartphones has shown a variety of mixed associations with cognition, behavior, and well-being in adults and children but little is known about its associations with symptomatology in individuals with serious mental illness.
objectiveTo determine the range of associations between screen time and symptoms of individuals with mental illness, we utilized a method called specification curve analysis.
methodsIn this observational study, we recruited smartphone-owning adults (≥18 years old) with schizophrenia and healthy controls. We installed 2 research-source smartphone apps, mindLAMP and Beiwe, to collect survey results, cognitive test results, and screen time metrics over a period of 3 months. Surveys were scheduled for twice a week, but participants were instructed to take the surveys naturally as much or as little as they wanted. Screen time was collected continuously in the background. A total of 140 participants was recruited from the outpatient clinic population as well as through general public advertising. Age-matched, smartphone-owning healthy controls were also part of the recruitment pool. A specification curve analysis was a priori designed to explore the relationship between every combination of independent variable and dependent variable in order to demonstrate to what degree screen time relates to symptoms in individuals with serious mental illness.
resultsThe sample consisted of 88 participants (54 with schizophrenia and 34 healthy controls) who completed both the initial and follow-up visits, completed at least one self-reported survey, and had a minimum passive data cutoff of 5 consecutive days. While we found an association between smartphone screen time metrics and cognition (adjusted R
conclusionsThe associations between screen time and mental health in patients with schizophrenia are heterogenous when examined with methods that reduce analytical bias. The heterogeneity in associations suggests that complex and personalized potential effects must be understood in the greater context of an individual. This analysis of longitudinally collected screen time data shows potential for future research that could benefit from high resolution metrics on smartphone use.
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