Returning Individual Research Results from Digital Phenotyping in Psychiatry

Francis X. Shen, Matthew L. Baum, Nicole Martinez-Martin, Adam S. Miner, Melissa Abraham, Catherine A. Brownstein, Nathan Cortez, Barbara J. Evans, Laura T. Germine, David C. Glahn, Christine Grady, Ingrid A. Holm, Elisa A. Hurley, Sara Kimble, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz, Kimberlyn Leary, Mason Marks, Patrick J. Monette, Jukka Pekka Onnela, P. Pearl O’RourkeScott L. Rauch, Carmel Shachar, Srijan Sen, Ipsit Vahia, Jason L. Vassy, Justin T. Baker, Barbara E. Bierer, Benjamin C. Silverman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Psychiatry is rapidly adopting digital phenotyping and artificial intelligence/machine learning tools to study mental illness based on tracking participants’ locations, online activity, phone and text message usage, heart rate, sleep, physical activity, and more. Existing ethical frameworks for return of individual research results (IRRs) are inadequate to guide researchers for when, if, and how to return this unprecedented number of potentially sensitive results about each participant’s real-world behavior. To address this gap, we convened an interdisciplinary expert working group, supported by a National Institute of Mental Health grant. Building on established guidelines and the emerging norm of returning results in participant-centered research, we present a novel framework specific to the ethical, legal, and social implications of returning IRRs in digital phenotyping research. Our framework offers researchers, clinicians, and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) urgently needed guidance, and the principles developed here in the context of psychiatry will be readily adaptable to other therapeutic areas.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)69-90
Number of pages22
JournalAmerican Journal of Bioethics
Volume24
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Keywords

  • Research ethics
  • human subjects research
  • neuroethics
  • psychiatry/psychology

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