Participant Consent

You are invited to take part in this study. Please read this Explanatory Statement in full before deciding whether or not to participate in this research. If you would like further information regarding any aspect of this project, you are encouraged to contact the researchers via the phone number or email address listed above.

This study, organised by the University of Warwick with Monash University Malaysia and funded by the Monash Warwick Alliance Research Activation Fund, explores links between smartphone use and wellbeing. Led by Dr Sagar Jilka (Warwick) and Dr Justine Thong (Monash Malaysia), it uses the DataDoc app to track everyday phone patterns - such as social media time or late-night use - and their relationship to anxiety and depression over six months. Parallel studies being run between the UK and Malaysia allow comparison of findings across both countries. You will need an Android phone to participate.

If you take part, you will be asked to:

• Join online and save your code. You read this leaflet and consent on the study website (study.sagarjilka.com). You are then shown a unique participant code (like DD-XXXXXX) - keep it safe: you enter it once in the app to activate your participation, and it is how your data is linked without using your name.
• Install the DataDoc app (Android phones only). It passively records which apps you use and for how long, to work out measures such as your phone use in the 90 minutes before bed and your share of time on social media and messaging apps, and to show you your own usage summaries. It does not access the content of your messages, calls, browsing history, contacts, or location.
• Optionally connect your health data - if you choose to, the app reads only your sleep, step count and exercise sessions (nothing else). The study works without this.
• Complete two short questionnaires (the PHQ-9 and the WHO-5 Well-Being Index) once a fortnight (every two weeks) in the app - which takes about 2-5 minutes altogether.
• Take part for 6 months. There are no visits, interviews or focus groups - everything happens through the app, and nothing is audio or video recorded.

You are eligible to participate in this study if you are:

• Aged between 18-25 years old
• A Malaysian citizen and currently residing in Malaysia
• Own, or have regular personal access to, an Android smartphone. Note that the app is not available on iOS, as iOS does not allow digital phenotype data collection.
• Willing and able to install and use the DataDoc app for the full 6-month study period.
• Able to read and understand the Participant Information Leaflet and provide informed consent in English.

You will be excluded if you are:

• Aged below 18 or over 25 years old
• Unable or unwilling to install the required app, or do not have access to a compatible smartphone
• Unable to provide informed consent (e.g. due to lack of capacity).

By the end of this document, you will be invited to provide your consent to participate in this research project. Participation is entirely voluntary, and you are not obligated to participate. Informed consent will be provided by ticking the boxes next to each consent statement within the consent form before commencing the study. Each item must be individually agreed to, as they are not being accepted as a single bundle.

You are free to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty by simply deleting your account in the DataDoc app (Settings → "Delete my account & leave the study"). Upon withdrawal, app tracking will be disabled, no further survey invitations will be sent, and no additional data will be collected. You may request to remove all your data collected up to the point of withdrawal, provided that you can still be identified through the participant code-to-email linkage file. Otherwise, after the 6-month period, your data will have been anonymised and combined for analysis, so from that point it can no longer be individually removed.

Note: You can ask us to withdraw your data up until the end of your own 6-month collection period. This is because the participant code-to-email linkage file will be securely destroyed after all participants have received their final thank-you voucher at the end of the six-month study period. After that, the research dataset will be fully anonymised, and individual participants will no longer be identifiable. Consequently, it will no longer be possible to withdraw or remove individual data from the dataset. Nevertheless, your rights to access or change your information are limited, as we need to manage it in specific ways for the research to be reliable.

• The study will improve understanding of how everyday phone use relates to wellbeing, which could help universities develop better support for students in the future.
• By taking part, you contribute to research that compares findings between the UK and Malaysia, adding valuable cross-cultural insights.

• Participation involves installing the DataDoc app and completing short wellbeing questionnaires every two weeks (about 2-5 minutes). This is a small time commitment.
• Some questions about mood and wellbeing may feel sensitive or uncomfortable.
• If your questionnaire scores suggest low mood or distress, the app will automatically show you information about support services and crisis resources. The research team does not monitor your answers in real time, so you should seek help if needed.

This project is funded by the Monash-Warwick Alliance Research Activation Fund. There are no conflicts of interest for the sponsors or members of the research team.

Participants will receive RM30 per month (up to RM180 in total over 6 months) for participation in the study, including completion of the two monthly check-ins. Your name, contact number, and email address will be used only to manage your participation and facilitate payment of the monthly remuneration.

All data collected in this study will remain strictly confidential. Your name, contact number, email address and other registration details will be collected to manage your participation and provide monthly remuneration. During the study, research data may be linked to your registration details to enable study administration and participant follow-up.

Access to identifiable information will be restricted to authorised members of the research team, including the Principal Investigators at Monash University Malaysia and the University of Warwick, where required for study administration, research management, and oversight purposes. The monitoring app does not collect the content of your messages, emails, phone calls, contacts, photos, browsing activity, passwords, or location information. The app only collects information about app usage patterns, such as which apps are used and how long they are used, together with questionnaire responses collected as part of the study.

Once you have completed the 6-month study and all remuneration has been provided, identifying information will be permanently removed from the research dataset. Following this process, the remaining research data will be retained in an anonymised form and can no longer be linked to you.

Data collected through the study platform will be stored on secure, access-controlled servers. Any data downloaded and retained by the research team will be stored using secure, university-approved storage systems and accessed only by authorised members of the research team.

The findings from this study will only ever be reported in aggregate, de-identified form. This means your individual responses will be combined with others and presented as group-level results, so no one will be able to identify you. Any publications, presentations, or reports will use anonymous data only.

The anonymised dataset may be retained securely for future approved research, but it will not be made publicly available in open repositories or open-source platforms. Access is limited to the research team and approved collaborators, and only for scientific purposes.

Should you have any concerns or complaints about the conduct of the project, you are welcome to contact the Executive Officer, Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC):

Tan Wooi Boon
Quality and Governance
Monash University Malaysia
MHub, Building 2, Level 3
Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500 Bandar Sunway
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Tel: +603-5514 6000 (Ext: 46121)
Email: [email protected]