Mobile Data Collection
Our lab regulatory uses ambulatory assessment methods to study relationship processes. We are currently developing, testing, and validating mobile data collection software systems to capture multimodal data streams in families’ everyday lives. Such systems can collect data on electrodermal activity, skin temperature, heart rate, movement, sleep, self-report, audio, video, and GPS data, among many others. The development of these data collection systems could help us gain new insights about family functioning and will inform our understanding of how small-scale events impact long-term health.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Our research is interdisciplinary and integrates concepts across clinical, engineering, statistical, and technology domains. We find there is a close, reciprocal link between the questions that interest us, the analytic methods that help us to investigate those questions, and the technological innovations that make those visions a reality. Merging knowledge across fields is a central component of making advancements in science. Our ultimate goal is to develop and employ advanced methods in combination with emerging technological platforms to support child development.
Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions
Current interventions aiming to improve relationship functioning largely rely on self-reports and therapists’ observations. Additionally, traditional therapy methods cannot provide in-the-moment feedback when problems actually occur in people’s day-to-day lives. Using wearable technologies, we aim to monitor people outside the laboratory and intervene in problems as they naturalistically unfold. We are currently collaborating with engineers to develop phone-based smart interventions capable of providing personalized 24-hour feedback and support delivered in daily life in moments of critical need.