Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research

Date Submitted:

Open Peer Review Period: -

Date Accepted:

Date Submitted to PubMed:

closed for review but you can still tweet
  • Laura A, Samuel T
  • Ecological Momentary Assessment of Parental Well-Being and Time Use: Mixed Methods Compliance and Feasibility Study
  • JMIR Formative Research
  • DOI: 10.2196/11848
  • PMID: 30303485
  • PMCID: 6352016
Preprints Accepted Manuscript

Ecological Momentary Assessment of Parental Well-Being and Time Use: Mixed Methods Compliance and Feasibility Study

Abstract

background

Parents often juggle multiple conflicting responsibilities, including work, childcare, and the household, making them a particularly burdened group. However, the impact of daily routines and associated (poor) well-being among parents has received relatively little attention. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is increasingly being used to capture real-time data and can help address this research gap.

objective

This study aims to examine compliance rates and the feasibility of EMA for measuring daily well-being and time use among parents.

methods

An exploratory mixed-methods study was conducted with 74 German parents (57/74, 77% women, (age: mean 37.6, SD 5.9 years). Participants completed a baseline questionnaire, followed by 4 daily EMA surveys (at 7:30 AM, 12 PM, 16:30 PM, and 21:30 PM) over a 1-week period, and a follow-up questionnaire. A subset of parents was also subsequently interviewed. Sociodemographic background and expected feasibility (open-ended questions) were surveyed at baseline, and feasibility was assessed at follow-up (closed- and open-ended questions) and in the interviews. State well-being (affective and cognitive), state stress, state as well as retrospective time-use were measured in the EMA surveys. Compliance and feasibility were examined using a combination of quantitative (descriptive analyses) and qualitative methodologies.

results

Participants completed an average of 83% (SD 13%) of the daily surveys. Compliance varied by gender and age, where men (90% vs 80%) and older parents showed higher rates. Participants generally found the survey frequency and length manageable, though some suggested adjustments to the study period depending on their individual routines. The 7:30 AM survey was reported as the most challenging due to childcare drop-offs (40%-49%), followed by the 16:30 PM survey for similar reasons (7%-17%). The qualitative analysis further revealed additional points for improvement, for instance, the need for personalization (eg, individual adjustment of the survey timings and intervals), technical support, and the incorporation of gamification elements. Most interviewees (46% vs 23%) found the used measurement of well-being and stress to be appropriate. Regarding time use, they felt that the predefined activity groups (eg, personal care, working) were suitable (46%) but noted challenges assigning less frequent activities (eg, medical appointments) (5%-54%). Reporting the timings of time-use via consecutive questions (ie, specifying the duration or start and end times of an activity) was perceived as confusing (9%-69%), with participants expressing a preference for a visual overview, such as a Gantt chart.

conclusions

The study demonstrates that, when accounting for certain sociodemographic and study design factors, EMA can be a feasible method for data collection regarding daily well-being and time use, even in highly time-constrained populations like parents. This shows great potential for future research, such as exploring work-family conflict or performative gender roles and complementing established methods (eg, retrospective daily diaries).

clinicalTrial

OSF Registries osf.io/8qj3d; https://osf.io/8qj3d

International Registered Report

RR2-10.2196/54728

As per the author’s request the PDF is not available.
Copyright

© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it’s website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.

Citation

Please cite as:

Laura A, Samuel T

Ecological Momentary Assessment of Parental Well-Being and Time Use: Mixed Methods Compliance and Feasibility Study

JMIR Formative Research

DOI: 10.2196/14886

URL: https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/11848

PMID: 31789598

PMCID: 6352016

Ecological Momentary Assessment of Parental Well-Being and Time Use: Mixed Methods Compliance and Feasibility Study

Current Preprint Settings

(as selected by the authors)

  1. Allow access to the preprint PDF upon submission to:

    (a) Open peer-review purposes

    (b) Logged-in users only

    (c) Anybody, anytime

    (d) Nobody

  2. When the manuscript is accepted, display the accepted manuscript PDF to:

    (a) Logged-in users only

    (b) Anybody, anytime

    (c) Anybody, anytime, and the author has chosen to deposit the ahead-of-print metadata to PubMed

    (d) Nobody

  3. When a final paper is published in a JMIR journal, display the preprint as follows:

    (a) Allow download

    (b) Show abstract only

    (c) Do not display anything

  4. If the paper is rejected from JMIR journals, display the preprint to:

    (a) Logged-in users only

    (b) Anybody, anytime

    (c) Nobody