Beyond sensors: reading patients through caregivers and context

Mobile technology for remotely sensing key health indicators about patients receiving long-term or outpatient care continues to become more affordable and more easily embedded, but there remain certain patient variables, especially mental health and adaptive functioning characteristics, that are difficult to automatically detect or problematic to self-report. To address this problem, we are working on technology that integrates input from caregivers (as well as patients) with enhanced context reporting. We describe how leveraging both methods in an application designed for use by PTSD/mTBI patients and their caregivers can potentially lead to more informed clinical care teams, better family engagement of the care process, and potentially better treatment outcomes.