Practical Considerations for Data Collection and Management in Mobile Health Micro-randomized Trials

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Behavioral Science
• Clinical Trials

Background:

• Mobile technology enables timely health interventions.
• Just-in-time adaptive interventions (JTAIs) personalize treatment delivery.
• Micro-randomized trials (MRTs) are crucial for optimizing JTAIs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide recommendations for high-quality data collection in MRTs.
• To guide the design of data management systems for mobile health studies.
• To address challenges in collecting data for JITAI optimization.

Main Methods:

• The study outlines strategies for selecting data features and collection timing.
• It discusses agent selection for randomization within MRTs.
• Recommendations cover identifying missing data sources and other challenges.

Main Results:

• The recommendations are informed by practical experience with the HeartSteps MRT.
• A checklist is provided to aid in designing robust data collection systems.
• Focus is placed on ensuring data quality for causal inference.

Conclusions:

• Effective data collection is essential for developing optimized JTAIs.
• Standardized recommendations can reduce data cleaning efforts.
• This work supports the advancement of mobile health intervention research.