February 10, 2017 by Maria Angela Ferrario
SnAPP is a mobile application designed to capture a person’s mood through tactile interactions and has been designed to work across several devices. SnAPP is the latest of Clasp prototypes; it builds on previous Snap wearable co-development process with Autism Initiatives. From working with our partners, we have found that automated passive sensing applications (e.g. using physiological data such as heart rate) and self-reported smart diaries hold promises for the management of anxiety and other mental-health conditions. However, the first often struggles with noisy data and ambiguous feedback whilst the latter relies on user-entered data which can be time consuming and cognitively demanding. Yet, when it comes to reporting anxiety incidents, an unambiguous and timely capture of incident triggers is crucial for later analysis and reflection. We wanted to explore the memory recall and narrative elicitation in anxiety management using just a click of a button.
SnAPP compatible device family
SnAPP ANATOMY
SnAPP is a rapidly prototyped system that uses a combination of off the shelf components and a bespoke app. SnAPP has two core functionalities: (a) It captures interactions data (UP and DOWN moments) via the click of a button; (b) it visualises such interactions for later reflection. It has also separate context capture functionality, SnapCam, which can be automatically fired by the click of a button without screen interaction.
Components
SnAPP has 5 components:.
1. Pressy, a physical button inserted in the audio jack, click it to capture an UP or DOWN ‘mood’
2. Pressy app, which register Pressy button on your mobile phone
3. Automateit app , which defines the mood trigger rules
4. Automateit Pressy Plug in, that allows the rules defined by Automateit to be triggered by Pressy.
5. SnAPP, our bespoke app that bundles everything together: it captures the interaction with time location stamps and visualise them for later reflection. Please send us a line if you like to try it out (it only works with Android phones)
SnapCam
SnapCam is an additional app designed to capture the audio/visual context of an UP or DOWN mood situation. For example, the relaxing effect of birds chirping in a garden or the anxiety inducing view of a queue at a shop. Currently installed as a separate app for technical and evaluation reasons, it will be integrated with SnAPP app in the future. The app is designed to complement a mood capture with related audio visual information rather than to substitute it. Suggested use: use it just before or after capturing a mood with an UP or DOWN press
SnAPP forward
SnAPP has been trialled with ten Autism Initiatives staff and service users over a two-month trial period; The participants found SnAPP easy to use and useful for stopping, reflecting and remembering both good and not so good moment. Staff reported that it even prevented a serious anxiety incident to happen. We are currently analysing the trial data and a follow-on study is planned. This time we will work with the general public, not only with people who suffer from anxiety and/or who have been diagnosed with autism. We will be looking for participants who are interested in exploring unobtrusive, private (the data is securely stored on participants’ own mobile phones) ways to easily bookmark important moments in their lives with a simple click of the button.
