Poster #100 - “How are you feeling?”: A feasibility and acceptability study for an emotion-tracking research tool

• In Event: Poster Session 15

Abstract

Rationale. Children’s emotional development is foundational for how children interact with others, self-regulate, and behave in various contexts (e.g., Dunn & Brown, 1994). Therefore, it is critical to explore the mechanisms by which children develop adaptive emotion skills. Although the family system is widely recognized as a key influence on children’s emotional development (e.g., Lam et al., 2012; Sosa-Hernandez et al., 2020), family emotion dynamics (FEDs), which refer to the patterns by which family members’ emotions and subcomponents (e.g., physiological) fluctuate across time (Kuppens & Verduyn, 2015), remain understudied. To date, no published research has explored FEDs using a family-wide approach to study how family members’ emotions manifest and influence one another in real time. To pioneer this approach and thus facilitate a deeper exploration of children’s emotional development, we developed a smartphone application, time2feel, which generates emotion surveys both randomly and in response to participant deviations in physiology (indicating potential shifts in emotional arousal), as measured by the Empatica E4 wristband. Aim. In this study, we aim to evaluate the 1) feasibility and 2) acceptability of time2feel by exploring both app engagement and participant feedback across families over a 10-day period. We will also explore 3) time2feel emotion response patterns across family members to gain preliminary insight into FED fluctuations. Hypotheses. 1) We predict that participant consent, retention, and average survey response rates will be 70% or higher across participants, and that children and parents will not differ in response rate. 2) We predict that average satisfaction and ease-of-use ratings will be 70% or higher across participants, and that children and parents will not differ in acceptability ratings. 3) We expect that time2feel will successfully highlight a variable range of emotions and intensities that parents and children experience daily. Method. 30 families comprised of two parents and two children (between the ages of 7-14 years) will download the time2feel app on their respective mobile devices and be provided with an Empatica E4 wristband. Family members will wear E4s and report on their emotions and emotion intensities using time2feel (4-8 prompts per day, random or triggered by physiology deviations) for 10 days. Following this, all family members will complete selected subscales of the Usefulness, Satisfaction, and Ease-of-Use Questionnaire (USE; Lund, 2001). Analytic Plan. 1) To assess general participant feasibility, descriptive statistics for consent, retention and survey response rate will be calculated. An independent samples t-test will be used to assess differences in response rate between parents and children. 2) To assess general participant acceptability, mean/median USE subscale scores will be calculated. An independent samples t-test will be used to assess differences in acceptability between parents and children. 3) To explore variability in parent and child emotion responses, descriptive statistics for family members’ reported emotions and intensities will be calculated. Implications. Findings will provide preliminary insight into the usability of time2feel within family-wide research approaches. If targets are met, time2feel may present a novel and comprehensive approach to studying FEDs and, in future research endeavors, their influences on children’s emotional development.

Authors

• Sadie Frances McVey Neufeld, University of Guelph
  Presenting Author

• Nida Ansari, University of Guelph

• Zoe Weidman, University of Guelph

• Kristel Thomassin, University of Guelph