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Main Authors: Shani, Chen, Stade, Elizabeth C.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.13890
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author Shani, Chen
Stade, Elizabeth C.
author_facet Shani, Chen
Stade, Elizabeth C.
contents Computational mental health research develops models to predict and understand psychological phenomena, but often relies on inappropriate measures of psychopathology constructs, undermining validity. We identify three key issues: (1) reliance on unvalidated measures (e.g., self-declared diagnosis) over validated ones (e.g., diagnosis by clinician); (2) treating mental health constructs as categorical rather than dimensional; and (3) focusing on disorder-specific constructs instead of transdiagnostic ones. We outline the benefits of using validated, dimensional, and transdiagnostic measures and offer practical recommendations for practitioners. Using valid measures that reflect the nature and structure of psychopathology is essential for computational mental health research.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_13890
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Measuring Mental Health Variables in Computational Research: Toward Validated, Dimensional, and Transdiagnostic Approaches
Shani, Chen
Stade, Elizabeth C.
Human-Computer Interaction
Computation and Language
Computational mental health research develops models to predict and understand psychological phenomena, but often relies on inappropriate measures of psychopathology constructs, undermining validity. We identify three key issues: (1) reliance on unvalidated measures (e.g., self-declared diagnosis) over validated ones (e.g., diagnosis by clinician); (2) treating mental health constructs as categorical rather than dimensional; and (3) focusing on disorder-specific constructs instead of transdiagnostic ones. We outline the benefits of using validated, dimensional, and transdiagnostic measures and offer practical recommendations for practitioners. Using valid measures that reflect the nature and structure of psychopathology is essential for computational mental health research.
title Measuring Mental Health Variables in Computational Research: Toward Validated, Dimensional, and Transdiagnostic Approaches
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.13890