News with the tag app

After several months of work and preparations, the first study within the POSTCOVID-AI project was launched on 15 November, which will allow us to obtain our first results on the impact of the pandemic on the well-being of the Spanish population.

The prerequisites to be able to participate in this study were to be of legal age and to have a mobile phone with an Android operating system. A very important aspect to consider in the selection of participants was that they should faithfully represent the general population. To this end, rigorous stratification criteria were followed based on certain socio-demographic characteristics. The final result was a group of 110 people (50% women) aged between 18 and 70. Another important characteristic taken into account was representativeness in relation to geographical distribution, for which the Nielsen criteria for the division of areas were followed. Finally, a representative distribution of the participants according to their gross annual income, has been sought, considering five ranges from less than 12,450€ to more than 60,000€.

During the month of the study, participants will have to keep the project application installed on their mobile phones and answer the questionnaires received throughout the day

The use of mobile applications to carry out observational studies based on scientific evidence is becoming increasingly common. Such apps allow the collection of data from users through a variety of sensors available on mobile devices, which can measure behavioural aspects such as activity or sleep patterns. In addition, these applications allow for quick surveys to be conducted anytime, anywhere. This, in addition to the high availability of these devices among different segments of the population, makes mobile phones an unparalleled data collection tool. Thanks to this novel way of collecting data, participation becomes more convenient and realistic, as it is carried out with minimum effort by the participants and in their most natural environment.

At POSTCOVID-AI we have developed a mobile app specially designed to collect real-time data on the social, behavioural and emotional behaviour of the population. The app will fulfil a dual function on a daily basis during the time the application is installed on the user's mobile phone. On the one hand, it will passively record data from sensors on the participant's mobile phone that will provide information about the weather, physical activity or environmental noise, among others. On the other hand, the app will facilitate the self-recording of participants' emotional experiences. To do this, the app is programmed to send notifications throughout the day, with a survey consisting of two questions: "How do you feel now" and "Since your last register, have you experienced any remarkable emotional situation?". All this data* will be combined and processed in the future with sophisticated Artificial Intelligence techniques that will allow us to infer valuable information about the impact of the pandemic on the well-being of the Spanish population.

*The data processed through the POSTCOVID-AI app are stored on a secure server of the University of Granada and comply with the Spanish Organic Law 3/2018, of 5 December, on the Protection of Personal Data and Guarantee of Digital Rights and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the European Council, of 27 April 2016.