Monitoring Occupational Dental Stress Using Apple Watch

NCT07356141 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: STUDY2025-1178
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 10
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

• This study will enroll 10 dental students (primary subjects) and up to 200 patients (secondary subjects), approximately 10 special-needs and 10 non-special-needs encounters per student, totaling about 200 treatment sessions.
• Students will wear an Apple Watch to continuously monitor heart rate (HR) during routine care. The Apple Watch contains built-in physiological sensors that automatically record heart rate and heart rate variability. These data are stored locally in the Apple Health app on a study-designated iPhone that is assigned for the research and handled solely by the Principal Investigator (PI). No real-time transmission or cloud-based sharing occurs during data recording. No additional apps, accounts, or third-party software are used. At designated intervals, the PI will use the health app's built-in "Export Health Data" function on the study iPhone. This function generates a ZIP file containing an export.xml file with sensor-recorded data. The PI will then upload the ZIP file from the study iPhone directly to a secure, university-approved UI Box Health Data Folder designated for the study. No research account will be set up for this purpose.
• A trained observer will record start/stop timepoints of procedure phases (e.g., seating, anesthesia start, operative phase, dismissal) to align with HR signals and will document only minimal patient variables needed for analysis: behavior/cooperation score (e.g., Frankl), sedation status, and broad procedure category (e.g., preventive, restorative, surgical).
• Each dental student will complete the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) only once at the beginning of the study to stablish a baseline measure of stress. The Questionnaire takes approximately 5 minutes to complete. Students do not need to complete the PSQ for each patient encounter. Student HR data and permitted minimal patient variables will be coded and de-identified, stored securely in UI Box Health Data Folder, and analyzed to compare special-needs vs non-special-needs encounters and to evaluate associations between student HR and the listed patient factors. No additional patient identifiers or PHI will be collected beyond what is specified above.

Conditions

Occupational Stress

Keywords

stress

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Heart rate changes in dental students during dental procedures

  During each dental treatment session per session

Study Arms (2)

patient with special needs

Patients with capability

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Primary Subjects - Dental Students: Ten (10) dental students enrolled at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Dentistry will participate. These students will provide routine clinical care to both special needs and non-special needs patients as part of their standard educational and clinical responsibilities. Secondary Subjects - Patients Receiving Care: Approximately 200 patients will be observed during these clinical sessions, including both special needs patients treated in the Inclusive Care Clinic (ICC) and non-special needs patients treated in other UIC dental clinics. Special needs patients and/or their legally authorized representatives (LARs) will provide consent, and, when appropriate, patients will provide assent.

You may qualify if:

• Minors and/or Special-needs patients who are scheduled for standard clinical care with a participating student during the study period may be enrolled as secondary subjects provided that their parent/guardian or legally authorized representative (LAR) grants permission during the consent process and the patient assents to the research when appropriate.
• Adult Patients with capacity who are scheduled for standard clinical care with a participating student during the study period may be enrolled as secondary subjects provided that are willing to provide informed consent.
• Willing to allow an observer and collection of minimal visit-level variables (behavior/cooperation score, sedation status, broad procedure category).
• Patients and/or their parent(s), guardian(s), or legally authorized representative(s) providing consent must be able to understand and communicate in English.

You may not qualify if:

• Not assigned to patient-care rotations during the study window.
• Known dermatologic, cardiovascular, neurologic, or other medical conditions that would interfere with safe or accurate HR monitoring or tolerability of a wrist device.
• Unwilling or unable to provide consent or follow procedures.
• Declines consent/permission/assent or withdraws at any time.
• Prisoners or individuals under custodial supervision.
• Pregnant women

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Illinois at Chicago: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Dentistry

Chicago, Illinois, 60612, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Occupational Stress

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Occupational Diseases; Stress, Psychological; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Clinical Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 12, 2026
• First Posted: January 21, 2026
• Study Start: April 1, 2026
• Primary Completion: May 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2026
• Last Updated: March 11, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Locations

US (1)