The National Digital Mental Health Study (NDMH), conducted in collaboration with Apple, is a nationwide study designed to reshape understanding of how depression may be detected — a longstanding challenge, as depression’s causes, symptoms and trajectories can vary widely from one individual to the next.
The research design underpinning the NDMH is similar to the DGC-Apple Digital Mental Health Study launched in 2020: Researchers will leverage powerful digital sensor technology using iPhones and Apple Watch to collect objective, everyday activities (e.g., sleep, heart rate, movement) from participants. These data will be measured against self-reported measures of participants’ mood and symptoms. The NDMH will recruit nationally and engage participants for approximately six months.
Why this research is important
Connections made between objective, quantifiable data and symptoms of anxiety and depression could give health care providers the power to prevent the onset of depressive episodes, track the effectiveness of treatment and identify causes of depression.
To obtain objective measures of factors such as sleep, physical activity, heart rate and daily routines from a diverse sample of participants across the U.S. to illuminate the relationship between these factors and self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety.
UCLA expects the data collection phase to continue through February 2026.
Targeting 600 completers
Principal Investigator: Nelson Freimer
Operations Lead: Eliza Congdon
Apple
Apple and UCLA
