Research Centers and Programs

Acti-Core: Supporting Actigraphy Needs

The goal of the Acti-Core is to facilitate new collaborations among investigators and departments by providing support services for the use of actigraphy.

The Acti-Core is housed in the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development (CCHBD) under the leadership of Dr. Tonya Palermo and currently supports actigraphy needs in CCHBD and the Center for Clinical and Translational Research (CCTR) in a cost-effective manner. Seattle Children's Research Institute investigators and fellows are able to draw on this experienced group for their actigraphy needs on small and larger projects.

Actigraphy is a tool that can be used to objectively assess sleep-wake patterns and activity levels by having study participants wear a small device typically worn on the wrist or waist.

Have questions or want more information?

Please complete our intake form (PDF) or email the Acti-Core.

Services

Actiwatch Spectrum

Actiwatch Spectrum

Acti-Core services include:

      • A consultation meeting with Dr. Palermo to determine if the Acti-Core's services would be useful for your study, as well as a preliminary assessment of your study needs and estimates of cost for actigraphy services
      • Assistance with descriptions and scripts for grants and IRB protocols
      • Collaboration in determining the optimal number of devices and other study logistics 
      • Adaptation of a sleep diary to assist with the scoring of your data and collection of any additional daily data you would like to collect
      • Device set-up, data retrieval, data scoring and data cleaning and exporting
GT3X-BT

GT3X-BT

Equipment and software: 

        • The Acti-Core primarily uses Actiwatch Spectrum (AW Spectrum) devices (Phillips Respironics/MiniMitter Company Inc., Bend, Oregon). The AW Spectrum is used to measure daily activity monitoring and sleep.
        • The Acti-Core can also provide support services for the GT3X-BT (ActiGraph, Pensacola, Florida). This device is more commonly used for daily activity monitoring.
        • Both are a reliable, unobtrusive, water-resistant device. 
        • The Actiware software used by the core is version 6.0.9. For GT3X-BT, the ActiLife software used by the core is version 6.13.4
        • Assistance with setting up your actigraphy data for data analysis

Sample actogram

Example of Actiwatch Spectrum data

Sample data analysis

Example of GT3X-BT data