Information Handout
“Accelerating the Development of Novel Methods to Measure 24-hr Physical Behavior” Study
Thank you for considering participating in our study!
This document provides additional information about what you will do and wear as a participant if you enroll in the study, including pictures of what the sensors look like and their location.
Day to Day Living (7 days)
Throughout the week you are in the study, you will go about your normal life. As you do, you will wear five movement sensors, continuously, including when you sleep. These sensors measure changes in your movement. During the day when you are awake, you will also wear a chest-worn, front-facing camera as much as possible.
The motion sensors will be worn on your left wrist, right wrist, hip, ankle, and thigh. You will wear them at all times, except when you bathe or swim.
Wrist sensors look like a watch. They display the time during the study. A sensor is worn on each wrist. |
The hip sensor and strap look like this. It is worn at your hip on the side of your dominant arm (with which you write), directly in line with where your armpit begins. |
The ankle sensor attaches to the ankle on the side of your dominant arm (with which you write) with a soft strap and can be tucked under a sock (here the sock is pulled down a bit). |
The thigh sensor will be attached to the skin on the side of your dominant arm (with which you write) using a breathable adhesive tape. This sensor can be worn during bathing and does not need to be removed. It is worn under the clothing. |
If you have an Android phone, we will ask you to install software on your phone that will measure the motion of your phone and other information about how you use your phone (including your location). You will otherwise use your phone normally, except you will have to charge it at night, and possibly a bit during the day if you use it heavily.
If you have an iPhone (or if your Android phone is a model that our software is not compatible with), we may give you a special case for your phone. Attached to the back of the case will be another sensor. This is so that we can measure the movement of your phone. The case attached to an iPhone looks like the one shown here. You will carry and use your phone normally during the study, charging it each night. |
In addition to the motion sensors above, you will also wear a camera attached to a lanyard around your neck as much as possible when you are awake. You will plug the camera in at night. The camera is shown here. There is a magnet that you will wear under your shirt on a second lanyard to help stabilize the camera and minimize movement when you go about your day-to-day activities (i.e., reduce it from flopping around). If you are indoors and plan to go outdoors, please ensure that the camera is not covered by any additional clothing (e.g., a jacket) that you may need to wear when going outdoors. You will take the camera off or turn it around when you are doing something you do not want recorded. Please remember to enable recording of viewable video once you complete the task that you did not want recorded. |
The camera records video of what you see so that our research team can label your activities. Below are some screenshots showing the type of view the camera captures. The video is used only by our research team to label your activities, and is carefully protected. You can have periods of video deleted before anyone sees it, i.e., if the camera accidentally records something you didn’t want it to.
It is expected that there will be moments during the study where you may feel uncomfortable about wearing the camera or unsure about whether others around you are ok with it. In those instances, you can simply take the camera off, or turn it around to avoid video capture.
For more information about how we will protect your privacy if you decide to participate in the study, see this document here, or paste the following url to the address bar:
Lab and Campus Data Collection Session (~4 hours)
During the week, on a day that is convenient for you, you will participate in a data collection session at our laboratory at Northeastern (30 Leon St., Boston). You will perform activities in the lab, and then we will walk around the campus.
During this time, you will wear all of the sensors described above, plus some additional sensors.
We will add more motion sensors to each of your limbs and to your hip. You will have two on each wrist, for example. |
You will wear a chest heart rate sensor against your skin. |
For a few activities inside our lab when you are on a treadmill, we will measure how many calories you are burning by having you wear a mask and breathe into a device called an indirect calorimeter. |
During the lab session while wearing the calorimeter, you will do the following things: sit/lie in different postures, walk on a treadmill, jog on a treadmill (if able), do some simple calisthenics (if able), and ride an exercise bike (if able).
During the lab session without the calorimeter, you will also do common household activities such as the following : fold laundry, vacuum, sweep, and put things away on a shelf.
As we walk around campus, you will do common activities such as the following: walk up and down stairs, carry groceries, shop for groceries, ride public transit, play Frisbee, rest on a bench, and ride a bike (if able).
Sleep Sessions (2 nights only)
Two of the nights during the week, we will use what is called polysomnography to measure your postures, physiology, and brain activity during sleep.
On these nights, scheduled to be convenient for you, you will visit our lab in the early evening in comfortable clothing in which you plan to sleep in and we will attach the sensors to you. The sensors are attached using a special gel and tape. You will then return home. Right before you go to bed, we will check in with you via Zoom, and have you apply a few extra sensors to your face (with our help), and then you will sleep as normally as you can. In the morning you remove the sensors.
Sensors will be stuck to your scalp, face, chest, and legs. Below you can see what you will be wearing when you leave our lab (which you can cover up as you head home using a hat or a hoodie).
At home, you will apply a few more sensors to your face, with our help. Below is a picture of the three chin sensors and nasal cannula (with small prongs in your two nostrils).
Then you sleep!
In the morning, you will carefully remove the sleep sensors and shower.
Check-in Zoom Sessions (~20 minutes, 7 days)
Each day we will check in with you via Zoom for about 20 minutes. During these sessions we will check on how the data collection is going, determine if there is any video you want deleted, and ask you about your prior day’s activities. These will be scheduled at times that are convenient for you.
Final Sensor Drop-off and Interview (~30 minutes)
On the eighth day after the evening when you start the study, you will visit our lab to drop off the sensors. At that time, we will do the final check-in session, asking you about your prior day’s activities, and also ask you some questions about your overall experience being in the study.
Questions?
Again, we want to thank you for considering participation in our study. We are happy to answer any questions you have about the study.
If you decide you are interested, we will send you a more detailed document that describes procedures (the “consent form”).