Feasibility, Acceptability, and Usability of Physiology and Emotion Monitoring in Adults and Children Using the Novel Time2Feel Smartphone Application

Abstract

The present study tests the feasibility, acceptability, and utility of the novel smartphone application—Time2Feel—to monitor family members’ emotional experiences, at the experiential and physiological level, and their context. To our knowledge, Time2Feel is the first of its kind, having the capability to monitor multiple members’ emotional experiences simultaneously and survey users’ emotional experiences when experiencing an increase in physiological arousal. In this study, a total of 44 parents and children used Time2Feel along with the Empatica E4 wrist-wearable device for 10 days. Engagement rates were within the acceptable range and consistent with previous work using experience sampling methods. Perceived ease of use and satisfaction fell mostly in the moderate range, with users reporting challenges with connectivity. We further discuss how addressing connectivity would increase acceptability. Finally, Time2Feel was successful at identifying physiological deviations in electrodermal activity for parents and children alike, and even though responses to those deviation-generated surveys were largely consistent with random survey responses, some differences were noted for mothers and fathers. We discuss the implications of using Time2Feel for understanding families’ emotional and stressful experiences day-to-day.