Passive Digital Phenotyping

Behavidence, Inc. in partnership with the Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN) 4 Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center( MIRECC) at the Crescenz VA Medical Center shall conduct a VA Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved research study. Behavidence, Inc. shall provide expertise in the development and refinement of the Behavidence mobile application, which continuously detects behavioral risk factors associated with Suicide and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Veterans. The application data will be supplied to the VA for validation. The VISN 4 MIRECC will assist in regulatory compliance, recruitment, and consent of subjects, sending and collection of the patient-reported outcomes, and data analysis.

The Behavidence, Inc. shall introduce a passive monitoring solution through digital phenotyping that can continuously detect behavioral risk factors associated with suicide and PTSD in Veterans by utilizing non-intrusive smartphone data collected via the Behavidence app. The app provides real-time continuous monitoring of behavioral health symptoms passively and unobtrusively. Behavidence, Inc. shall validate and add measures of suicidal-related behavior and PTSD phenotypes specifically adapted to Veterans. This approach is a proactive alternative to traditional, episodic mental health screenings, offering continuous, real-time insights into mental health risk indicators and potentially identifying critical high-risk periods for timely intervention. Digital phenotyping captures subtle but crucial indicators of suicide risk, such as changes in social engagement and sleep patterns, providing an up-to-date and comprehensive picture of mental health regardless of engagement with VA services.

The primary outcomes of this project are fully validated phenotypes for clinical use, clinician-oriented reporting tools, and a field test report detailing usability, feedback, and outcome metrics. The report will cover clinician feedback, including insights on data integration, ease of interpretation, and practical application within VA clinical workflows. Additionally, the field test will document any modifications needed for full-scale deployment, assessing the feasibility of integrating continuous digital phenotyping within the VA to improve suicide prevention and PTSD monitoring outcomes. Testing shall be completed in a two-phase approach.

The primary deliverables for phase 1 will include validated digital phenotypes for high-risk suicide and PTSD profiles, along with documentation of the predictive accuracy and alignment with clinical standards. This documentation will detail the model's sensitivity, specificity, and overall performance when tested against clinical assessments. This phase will also produce preliminary reports on user engagement and clinician feedback, which will inform further adjustments in preparation for the Field Test/Pilot Phase 2.