Localized Ecological Momentary Assessment for Mental Health Research in China: An Implementation-Oriented Framework and Preliminary Case Application

2026-08-19

AI Summary

研究旨在解决中国心理健康研究中生态瞬时评估（EMA）平台不足的问题，通过构建多维度EMA平台评估框架(MEPEF)来评估并优化现有平台。

Abstract

Background: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is increasingly used in mental health research, but research-grade deployment requires platforms supporting protocol configuration, automated delivery, participant management, and data export. In China, these requirements are not consistently supported. Objective: We aimed to identify workflow gaps affecting localized EMA deployment, develop an implementation-oriented framework for platform assessment, and assess Huixin EMAI. Methods: We reviewed EMA platforms reported in Chinese mental health studies in CNKI and Wanfang. A multidisciplinary panel of 6 experts developed the Multi-dimensional EMA Platform Evaluation Framework (MEPEF) and benchmarked 7 platforms across 43 indicators in 6 domains. MEPEF was then applied to Huixin EMAI using deployment logs from 48 participants, questionnaires from 44 participants, and semistructured interviews with 6 researchers. Results: We identified 66 empirical studies. Most relied on instant-messaging-based workflows (36/66, 54.5%), whereas specialized EMA platforms were less common (14/66, 21.2%). MEPEF provided a 6-domain framework for cross-platform benchmarking and highlighted a trade-off between localized deployability and advanced research functions. In a Huixin EMAI deployment, 1893 of 2472 expected prompts were completed (76.6%), with a median response latency of 4.0 minutes (Q1-Q3 0.0-13.0). Participant feedback indicated favorable acceptability; researchers reported support for core workflows but gaps in control, delivery monitoring, and data readiness. Conclusions: The main challenge for EMA in Chinese mental health research appears to lie less in feasibility than in recurring workflow gaps affecting localized deployment. This study translates these gaps into structured evaluation and design targets, providing an implementation-oriented pathway for advancing localized EMA platforms.

Problem

• Ecological Momentary Assessment
• Mental Health Research
• Platform Support
• Localized Deployment
• Workflow Gaps

Innovation

• Multi-dimensional EMA Platform Evaluation Framework (MEPEF)
• localized deployment
• workflow gaps
• Huixin EMAI