Wearables in Mental Healthcare: Connecting a Monitoring System to the Electronic Patient Record (ePA)

27.03.2026, Diplomarbeiten, Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten

We are looking for Master's students who would like to write their thesis on a topic at the intersection of information systems and healthcare.

CONTEXT

Wearable-based interventions are increasingly discussed as a promising way to support health care through the continuous collection of patient-generated health data (PGHD) (Shapiro et al., 2012). In contrast to episodic data collection during consultations, consumer wearables such as smart rings, smartwatches, and activity trackers can provide longitudinal information on sleep, physical activity, heart rate, heart rate variability, and related behavioral patterns through passive data collection (Reindl-Spanner et al., 2023). In mental health care, these data may complement self-reports and clinical consultations with more continuous and everyday-life-oriented insights (Matcham et al., 2019; Wuttke et al., 2023; Pedrelli et al., 2020). Within an ongoing research project at TUM, a digital platform has been developed to support depression monitoring and clinical decision support through the integration of questionnaire-based data and wearable-derived PGHD. For the next development phase, the platform is to be further developed and reoriented toward compatibility with multiple consumer wearables that people already use in everyday life. This includes both the evaluation of suitable devices and the extension of the system toward a more modular and reusable integration architecture.

TASKS

• Analysis of the requirements for the further development of a PGHD-integrated monitoring and decision support platform with a focus on transfer to the ePA
• Investigation of relevant functional, technical, and regulatory frameworks for the integration of PGHD into the ePA
• Analysis and design of suitable data models, interfaces, and interoperability approaches for transferring wearable-based data to the ePA
• Design and implementation of platform components for structured and modular ePA integration
• Further development of the system architecture to support scalable and reusable data transfer across various healthcare contexts
• Prototype implementation and evaluation of selected functions or interfaces for ePA integration
• Derivation of technical design principles and recommendations for PGHD-integrated monitoring platforms with ePA connectivity in the healthcare sector

REQUIREMENTS

• High degree of autonomy and responsibility
• Strong interest in digital health technologies and healthcare information systems
• Experience in software development, data analysis, or system design
• Structured, independent, and reliable work style
• Interest in translating user feedback into technical system requirements

FURTHER INFORMATION

The thesis can be written in English or German. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. Please send your application including our specific application form, a current transcript of records and your CV to maximilian.schumergruber@tum.de. Please also note that we can only consider applications with complete documents.

REFERENCES

Matcham, F., Barattieri di San Pietro, C., Bulgari, V., De Girolamo, G., Dobson, R., Eriksson, H., et al. (2019). Remote assessment of disease and relapse in major depressive disorder (RADAR-MDD): A multi-centre prospective cohort study protocol. BMC Psychiatry, 19(1), 72.

Wuttke, A., Steinmetz, A., Endres, K., Simon, P., Fellgiebel, A., & Haller, N. (2023). Behavioral activation by wearable devices in patients with late-life depression. GeroPsych.

Pedrelli, P., Fedor, S., Ghandeharioun, A., Howe, E., Ionescu, D. F., Bhathena, D., et al. (2020). Monitoring changes in depression severity using wearable and mobile sensors. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 584711.

Reindl-Spanner, P., Prommegger, B., Gensichen, J., & Krcmar, H. (2022). Insights on patient-generated health data in healthcare: A literature review. PACIS 2022 Proceedings.

Shapiro, M., Johnston, D., Wald, J., & Mon, D. (2012). Patient-generated health data. White paper. RTI International. Prepared for Office of Policy and Planning, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Kontakt: maximilian.schumergruber@tum.de