You do the Research. We do the Technology
Step 1: Watch the Training Video
Step 2: Book a Strategy Session
Dozens of NIH and NSF funded studies
Case Studies
Harvard Medical School: Digital Phenotyping in Suicidal Ideation
Before work with the mEMA System suicidal thinking was seen as a homogenous construct. Typically snapshot assessments were taken days, weeks or months apart with missed the variation in suicidal thought that happens over hours. The available methodologies blunted our understanding.
A group from Harvard Medical School used the mEMA System for “digital phenotyping” – real-time characterization and quantification in human thought in situ.
They found five previously unknown distinct phenotypes of suicidal thought. There was a significant relationship between some of these phenotypes and a recent suicide attempt. This work has opened up a new avenue in the understanding of suicide and it’s prevention.
Evan Kleiman Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Rutgers University
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Evan_Kleiman
“Depression & Anxiety” – Full Text Paper
Boston Children’s Hospital: Ecological Momentary Intervention for Marijuana Use in Youth
Used motivational counseling with adolescents using marijuana. They found it effective but wondered if they could make it more effective by adding an ecological momentary intervention component.
They used the mEMA System to provide personalized messages to participants throughout the day that were tailored to the specific momentary context (e.g. hanging out with friends). The messages were personalized based on counselors in-person interactions with each participant then added into the app by the clinical team each week.
They found that participants in both the motivational counseling condition and the ecological momentary intervention assisted motivational counseling condition showed reduced desire for and use of marijuana at the end of the study. And that desire to use marijuana during targeted contexts was reduced even more in the EMI assisted condition. Their patients enjoyed using the app and reading the messages.
Lydia Shrier, MD, MPH
Attending physician at Boston Children’s Hospital
http://www.researchgate.net/profile.Lydia_Shrier
mHealth- Full Text
Johns Hopkins University: Opioid Use in Chronic Pain
Sickle Cell Disease is a chronically painful condition often treated with opioids which carries the risk of addiction and abuse. But previously to the use of the mEMA System it was not understood how patients make decisions about which opioids to take and when.
This group used the mEMA System to present a Daily Diary questionnaire every evening to patients. They asked about how they were feeling, which opioids (short or long acting) they had taken and probed some thought patterns around the pain they were experiencing.
They discovered that pain levels and higher catastrophizing lead to greater use of short-acting opioid whereas negative affect led to use of long-acting opioids. They also found that catastrophizing about their pain led patients to use more opioids even when pain levels were relatively low. The mEMA System allowed them to shed light on the momentary cognitive and affective mechanisms underlying prescription opioid use behaviors that had been previously hidden from view. university
Patrick Finan Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Johns Hopkins University
http:www.researchgate.net/profile/Patrick_Finan
“Journal of Pain“
Stay on Time and on Budget
Create your study yourself then put it on auto-pilot.
Forget waiting for costly software development.
Iterate Freely
Make changes to your design, surveys and intervention content as you need it.
Leave behind being locked into a design or a limited number of surveys / notifications.
Focus on Data Analysis
Spend your time on the research.
Forget the technology headaches.
Features
Create your Study with no Programming Experience
There is no need to wait for us to build anything – it’s already built! After a one hour online training session you will be able to create all your mobile surveys, set up notification schedules for each participant and turn on or off sensor data streams.
Make your Intervention “Just-in-Time”
The mEMA app can make decisions about which intervention content to present to which participant at which moment. Just tell us which data streams to use, define the decision logic and we will do all the rest.
Focus on your Research Knowing you are Supported
Our Customer Support team are here to help you by email or phone at any point in your study. If changes to the Apple or Android operating system impact your study in any way we will take care of it immediately.
Ensure your Data are Secure and Compliant
We will help get your study through the IRB and the university tech audit and make sure everything is HIPPA and GDPR compliant.
Our Team
Kat Houghton PhD
Co-Founder and CEO
Psychologist; Behavioral Intervention Specialist
Mark Tuomenoksa
Co-Founder and CTO
Maverick inventor with a passion for making the world a better place
FAQ and Concerns
What distinguishes you from everyone else?
There are very few commercially available EMA platforms. We are the only one that offers access to phone sensors, media capture, geotracking, audio tracking, and integrate with wearable devices. We are the only commercially available platform that can be used to run a Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention
Who are you guys anyway?
We’re psychologists and software engineers who know how to speak both languages!
What results will I actually get from this?
An easy way to set up your study, let the data roll in and not have to deal with the technical headaches.
What exactly am I signing up for? What are all the features and benefits?
The full list of features for the three pricing levels is here. After your strategy session we can guide you to the license level that’s the best fir for your study.
Are there any long-term contracts?
You can subscribe to the mEMA System for 6 months, 1 year or more. The Terms and Conditions are here.
How do I present this to my team?
Send them to this page and invite them to join the Strategy Session
What wearables does it integrate with?
Currently Garmin (e.g. Viviosmart 4) and Empatica. We are always adding more
How do I know this will work for my study?
If after the Strategy Session you are still not sure then we can provide you with a two-week free trial of the mEMA System.
Can I randomize the sampling rate of the EMA surveys?
Yes! There are multiple ways to set up the notification schedules – stratified randomization is one of them
Does the participant have to press upload every time they complete a survey?
That’s up to you. The Auto-upload feature can be turned on and off.
What format do I download the data in?
CSV file. You will get a CSV for each survey and each sensor type you choose. Media (videos, photos, audio files) are stored separately and are downloaded in bulk as a .ZIP file per participant. The data files are dynamic and are updates each time a participant submits new data.
How much data will the mEMA app take up on my participant’s cellular data plan?
Each survey item (i.e. question or message) is 265 bits. So to calculate daily data usage: 265 x number of elements in each survey x number of surveys per day.