Psychiatry Outpatients’ Willingness to Share Social Media Posts and Smartphone Data for Research and Clinical Purposes: Survey Study

BACKGROUND: Psychiatry research has begun to leverage data collected from patients’ social media and smartphone use. However, information regarding the feasibility of utilizing such data in an outpatient setting and the acceptability of such data in research and practice is limited. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at understanding the outpatients’ willingness to have information from their social media posts and their smartphones used for clinical or research purposes. METHODS: In this survey study, we surveyed patients (N=238) in an outpatient clinic waiting room. Willingness to share social media and passive smartphone data was summarized for the sample as a whole and broken down by sex, age, and race. RESULTS: Most patients who had a social media account and who were receiving talk therapy treatment (74.4%, 99/133) indicated that they would be willing to share their social media posts with their therapists. The percentage of patients willing to share passive smartphone data with researchers varied from 40.8% (82/201) to 60.7% (122/201) depending on the parameter, with sleep duration being the parameter with the highest percentage of patients willing to share. A total of 30.4% of patients indicated that media stories of social media privacy breaches made them more hesitant about sharing passive smartphone data with researchers. Sex and race were associated with willingness to share smartphone data, with men and whites being the most willing to share. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that most patients in a psychiatric outpatient setting would share social media and passive smartphone data and that further research elucidating patterns of willingness to share passive data is needed.