Aan Het Rot, Marije; Moskowitz, D. S.; Young, Simon N. (2015): Impulsive behaviour in interpersonal encounters: Associations with quarrelsomeness and agreeableness. In: British Journal of Psychology 106 (1), S. 152–161. DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12070.
Associations between impulsivity and interpersonal behaviours have rarely been examined, even though impulsivity may disrupt the flow of social interactions. For example, it is unknown to what extent the commonly used Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS‐11) predicts impulsive behaviour in social situations, and how behaving impulsively during interpersonal encounters might influence levels of quarrelsomeness and agreeableness. In this study, 48 healthy working individuals completed the BIS‐11 and recorded their behaviour in social situations using event‐contingent recording. Record forms included items representing quarrelsome, agreeable, and impulsive behaviours. BIS‐11 motor impulsiveness scores predicted impulsive behaviour in social situations. Impulsive behaviour was associated, in different interactions, with both agreeableness and quarrelsomeness. Behaving impulsively in specific interactions was negatively associated with agreeableness in participants with higher BIS‐11 motor impulsiveness and positively associated with agreeableness in participants with lower BIS‐11 motor impulsiveness. Impulsive quarrelsome behaviour may cause interpersonal problems. Impulsive agreeable behaviour may have positive effects in individuals with low trait impulsivity. The idea that there are between‐person differences in the effects of state impulsivity on the flow of social interaction deserves further study.
Alisic, Eva; Barrett, Anna; Bowles, Peter; Conroy, Rowena; Mehl, Matthias R. (2015): Topical Review: Families Coping With Child Trauma: A Naturalistic Observation Methodology. In: J Pediatr Psychol. DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsv016.
OBJECTIVE : To introduce a novel, naturalistic observational methodology (the Electronically Activated Recorder; EAR) as an opportunity to better understand the central role of the family environment in children’s recovery from trauma. METHODS : Discussion of current research methods and a systematic literature review of EAR studies on health and well-being. RESULTS : Surveys, experience sampling, and the EAR method each provide different opportunities and challenges for studying family interactions. We identified 17 articles describing relevant EAR studies. These investigated questions of emotional well-being, communicative behaviors, and interpersonal relationships, predominantly in adults. 5 articles reported innovative research in children, triangulating EAR-observed behavioral data (e.g., on child conflict at home) with neuroendocrine assay, sociodemographic information, and parent report. Finally, we discussed psychometric, practical, and ethical considerations for conducting EAR research with children and families. CONCLUSIONS : Naturalistic observation methods such as the EAR have potential for pediatric psychology studies regarding trauma and the family environment.
Anderson, P. J.; Wiste, H. J.; Ostby, S. A.; Miller, A. D.; Ceridon, M. L.; Johnson, B. D. (2015): Sleep disordered breathing and acute mountain sickness in workers rapidly transported to the South Pole (2835m). In: Respir Physiol Neurobiol 210, S. 38–43. DOI: 10.1016/j.resp.2015.01.012.
BACKGROUND: Sleep disordered breathing may be a risk factor for high altitude illness. Past Antarctic sleep studies suggest that rapid transport from sea level (SL) to the Amundsen Scott South Pole Station (SP, 2835m) increases risk of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). We analyzed sleep studies in 38 healthy polar workers to explore the association between sleep disordered breathing and AMS after rapid transport to the South Pole. METHODS: Subjects completed a baseline questionnaire, performed basic physiology tests, and were evaluated for AMS and medication use using an extended Lake Louise Questionnaire (LLQ) during their first week at the South Pole. Participants were included in this study if they took no medications and underwent polysomnography on their first nights at Sea Level and the South Pole using the Vivometrics LifeShirt((R)). Within group changes were assessed with Wilcoxon signed rank tests and between group differences were assessed with Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tests. RESULTS: Overall, 21/38 subjects met criteria for AMS at some time on or prior to the third morning at the South Pole. Subjective poor sleep quality was reported by both AMS (65%) and no AMS (41%) groups. The Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI) increased significantly in both the AMS and no AMS groups, but the difference in the increase between the two groups was not statistically significant. Increased AHI was not associated with increased AMS symptoms. Previous altitude illness (p=0.06) and residence at low altitudes (p=0.02) were risk factors for AMS. CONCLUSION: AMS was not significantly associated with sleep architecture changes or increased AHI. However, AHI sharply increased at South Pole (19/38 participants) primarily due to central apneas. Those developing AMS were more likely to have experienced previous problems at altitude and reported living at lowland altitudes within the 3 months prior to rapid transport to the South Pole than those without AMS.
Ansell, Emily B.; Laws, Holly B.; Roche, Michael J.; Sinha, Rajita (2015): Effects of marijuana use on impulsivity and hostility in daily life. In: Drug Alcohol Depend 148, S. 136–142. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.12.029.
BACKGROUND: Marijuana use is increasingly prevalent among young adults. While research has found adverse effects associated with marijuana use within experimentally controlled laboratory settings, it is unclear how recreational marijuana use affects day-to-day experiences in users. The present study sought to examine the effects of marijuana use on within-person changes in impulsivity and interpersonal hostility in daily life using smartphone administered assessments. METHODS: Forty-three participants with no substance dependence reported on their alcohol consumption, tobacco use, recreational marijuana use, impulsivity, and interpersonal hostility over the course of 14 days. Responses were analyzed using multilevel modeling. RESULTS: Marijuana use was associated with increased impulsivity on the same day and the following day relative to days when marijuana was not used, independent of alcohol use. Marijuana was also associated with increased hostile behaviors and perceptions of hostility in others on the same day when compared to days when marijuana was not used. These effects were independent of frequency of marijuana use or alcohol use. There were no significant effects of alcohol consumption on impulsivity or interpersonal hostility. CONCLUSIONS: Marijuana use is associated with changes in impulse control and hostility in daily life. This may be one route by which deleterious effects of marijuana are observed for mental health and psychosocial functioning. Given the increasing prevalence of recreational marijuana use and the potential legalization in some states, further research on the potential consequences of marijuana use in young adults’ day-to-day life is warranted.
Armey, Michael F.; Schatten, Heather T.; Haradhvala, Natasha; Miller, Ivan W. (2015): Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of depression-related phenomena. In: Curr Opin Psychol 4, S. 21–25. DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.01.002.
Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is one research method increasingly employed to better understand the processes that underpin depression and related phenomena. In particular, EMA is well suited to the study of affect (e.g., positive and negative affect), affective responses to stress (e.g., emotion reactivity), and behaviors (e.g., activity level, sleep) that are associated with depression. Additionally, EMA can provide insights into self-harm behavior (i.e. suicide and non-suicidal self-injury), and other mood disorders (e.g. bipolar disorder) commonly associated with depressive episodes. Given the increasing availability and affordability of handheld computing devices such as smartphones, EMA is likely to play an increasingly important role in the study of depression and related phenomena in the future.
Arsand, Eirik; Muzny, Miroslav; Bradway, Meghan; Muzik, Jan; Hartvigsen, Gunnar (2015): Performance of the First Combined Smartwatch and Smartphone Diabetes Diary Application Study. In: J Diabetes Sci Technol. DOI: 10.1177/1932296814567708.
Wearable computing has long been described as the solution to many health challenges. However, the use of this technology as a diabetes patient self-management tool has not been fully explored. A promising platform for this use is the smartwatch-a wrist-worn device that not only tells time but also provides internet connection and ability to communicate information to and from a mobile phone. Over 9 months, the design of a diabetes diary application for a smartwatch was completed using agile development methods. The system, including a two-way communication between the applications on the smartwatch and mobile phone, was tested with 6 people with type 1 diabetes. A small number of participants was deliberately chosen due to ensure an efficient use of resources on a novel system. The designed smartwatch system displays the time, day, date, and remaining battery time. It also allows for the entry of carbohydrates, insulin, and blood glucose (BG), with the option to view previously recorded data. Users were able to record specific physical activities, program reminders, and automatically record and transfer data, including step counts, to the mobile phone version of the diabetes diary. The smartwatch system can also be used as a stand-alone tool. Users reported usefulness, responded positively toward its functionalities, and also provided specific suggestions for further development. Suggestions were implemented after the feasibility study. The presented system and study demonstrate that smartwatches have opened up new possibilities within the diabetes self-management field by providing easier ways of monitoring BG, insulin injections, physical activity and dietary information directly from the wrist.
Baere, Stijn de; Seghers, Jan; Philippaerts, Renaat; Martelaer, Kristine de; Lefevre, Johan (2015): Intensity- and Domain-specific Levels of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in 10-14 Year-old Children. In: J Phys Act Health. DOI: 10.1123/jpah.2014-0416.
BACKGROUND: to investigate levels of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) in 10-14 year-olds and to determine PA differences between week-weekend days, genders and school stages. METHODS: 241 children were recruited from 15 primary and 15 secondary schools. PA was assessed for 7 days using the SenseWear Mini Armband and an electronic diary. Week-weekend and gender differences were determined using 2-way repeated-measures ANOVA. Combined intensity- and domain-specific PA differences between genders and school stages were examined using 2-way ANOVA. RESULTS: Weekdays were more active compared to weekend days. Physical activity level (PAL) of boys was higher compared with girls. Boys showed more moderate (+15 min/day) and vigorous PA (+9 min/day), no differences were found for SB and light PA. Secondary school children showed more SB (+111 min/day), moderate (+8 min/day) and vigorous (+9 min/day) PA and less light PA (-66 min/day) compared with primary school children. No difference was found for PAL. The results of the combined intensity- and domain-specific parameters revealed more nuanced differences between genders and school stages. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the complexity of PA and SB behavior of children, indicating the need for a multidimensional and differentiated approach in PA promotion.
Bakshi, Nitya; Stinson, Jennifer; Ross, Diana; Lukombo, Ines; Mittal, Nonita; Joshi, Saumya Vinod et al. (2015): Development, Content Validity and User Review of a Web-Based Multi-Dimensional Pain Diary for Adolescent and Young Adults with Sickle Cell Disease. In: Clin J Pain. DOI: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000195.
BACKGROUND:: Vaso-occlusive pain, the hallmark of sickle cell disease (SCD), is a major contributor to morbidity, poor health-related quality of life and healthcare utilization associated with this disease. There is wide variation in the burden, frequency and severity of pain experienced by patients with SCD. As compared to healthcare utilization for pain, a daily pain diary captures the breadth of the pain experience and is a superior measure of pain burden and its impact on patients. Electronic pain diaries based on real time data capture methods overcome methodological barriers and limitations of paper pain diaries but their psychometric properties have not been formally established in patients with SCD. OBJECTIVES:: To develop and establish the content validity of a web-based multi-dimensional pain diary for adolescents and young adults with SCD and conduct an end-user review to refine the prototype. METHODS:: Following identification of items, a conceptual model was developed. Interviews with adolescents and young adults with SCD were conducted. Subsequently, end-user review with use of the electronic pain diary prototype was conducted. RESULTS:: Two iterative cycles of in-depth cognitive interviews in adolescents and young adults with SCD informed the design and guided the addition, removal and modification of items in the multi-dimensional pain diary. Potential end-users provided positive feedback on the design and prototype of the electronic diary. CONCLUSION:: A multi-dimensional web-based electronic pain diary for adolescents and young adults with SCD has been developed and content validity and initial end-user reviews have been completed.
Baraldi, Amanda N.; Wurpts, Ingrid C.; Mackinnon, David P.; Lockhart, Ginger (2015): Evaluating mechanisms of behavior change to inform and evaluate technology-based interventions. In: Lisa A. Marsch, Sarah E. Lord, Jesse Dallery, Marsch, Lisa A. (Ed), Lord, Sarah E. (Ed) und Jesse (Ed) Dallery (Hg.): Behavioral healthcare and technology: Using science-based innovations to transform practice. New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press, S. 187–199.
In prevention and treatment research, a mediation framework helps researchers understand how an intervention changes an outcome by first changing a mediating variable. Mediation analysis is an important component in evaluating technology-based interventions, as it can provide evidence of how an intervention achieved its effects. The purpose of this chapter is to describe how mediation analysis can be incorporated into technology-based research. We begin by providing a broad overview of mediation that applies to both technological and non-technological contexts. Later, we discuss issues particular to mediation with technology-based interventions. We start with the cross-sectional mediation model for data collected from each participant at only one timepoint during a study. As an example of a cross-sectional mediation study, consider an intervention for test anxiety. The intervention or control procedure (X) is delivered immediately prior to a test. At the same time as delivery of the test, researchers also collect a measure of anxiety (M), which is thought to mediate the relationship between the intervention and the outcome, test performance (Y). Mediation analysis addresses whether the intervention improved test performance, and whether decreases in anxiety mediated the effect. We then describe the multilevel longitudinal mediation model, where measurement of X, M, and/or Y occurs at multiple points in time. Using the test anxiety example, the intervention may be enrollment in a special English class that includes anxiety program components, with the control being a normal English class (X), and anxiety (M) and test performance (Y) may be measured monthly over a school year. Because the values of M and Y may vary over time, the data require longitudinal mediation analyses. We focus on a type of multilevel mediation model specific to the case of repeated measures of the intervention (X), the mediating variable (M), and the dependent variable (Y). Finally, we describe how the longitudinal mediation model can answer questions using technology-based tools such as ecological momentary assessment and ecological momentary intervention. Our overall goals are to provide an overview of mediation in technology-based interventions, and to encourage researchers to apply these models to understand mediation processes in their research studies.
Bastian, Thomas; Maire, Aurelia; Dugas, Julien; Ataya, Abbas; Villars, Clement; Gris, Florence et al. (2015): Automatic identification of physical activity types and sedentary behaviors from triaxial accelerometer: laboratory-based calibrations are not enough. In: J Appl Physiol (1985) 118 (6), S. 716–722. DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.01189.2013.
“Objective” methods to monitor physical activity and sedentary patterns in free-living conditions are necessary to further our understanding of their impacts on health. In recent years, many software solutions capable of automatically identifying activity types from portable accelerometry data have been developed, with promising results in controlled conditions, but virtually no reports on field tests. An automatic classification algorithm initially developed using laboratory-acquired data (59 subjects engaging in a set of 24 standardized activities) to discriminate between 8 activity classes (lying, slouching, sitting, standing, walking, running, and cycling) was applied to data collected in the field. Twenty volunteers equipped with a hip-worn triaxial accelerometer performed at their own pace an activity set that included, among others, activities such as walking the streets, running, cycling, and taking the bus. Performances of the laboratory-calibrated classification algorithm were compared with those of an alternative version of the same model including field-collected data in the learning set. Despite good results in laboratory conditions, the performances of the laboratory-calibrated algorithm (assessed by confusion matrices) decreased for several activities when applied to free-living data. Recalibrating the algorithm with data closer to real-life conditions and from an independent group of subjects proved useful, especially for the detection of sedentary behaviors while in transports, thereby improving the detection of overall sitting (sensitivity: laboratory model = 24.9%; recalibrated model = 95.7%). Automatic identification methods should be developed using data acquired in free-living conditions rather than data from standardized laboratory activity sets only, and their limits carefully tested before they are used in field studies.
Bender, Melinda S.; Martinez, Suzanna; Kennedy, Christine (2015): Designing a Culturally Appropriate Visually Enhanced Low-Text Mobile Health App Promoting Physical Activity for Latinos: A Qualitative Study. In: J Transcult Nurs. DOI: 10.1177/1043659614565249.
Rapid proliferation of smartphone ownership and use among Latinos offers a unique opportunity to employ innovative visually enhanced low-text (VELT) mobile health applications (mHealth app) to promote health behavior change for Latinos at risk for lifestyle-related diseases. Using focus groups and in-depth interviews with 16 promotores and 5 health care providers recruited from California clinics, this qualitative study explored perceptions of visuals for a VELT mHealth app promoting physical activity (PA) and limiting sedentary behavior (SB) for Latinos. In this Phase 1 study, participants endorsed visuals portraying PA guidelines and recommended visuals depicting family and socially oriented PA. Overall, participants supported a VELT mHealth app as an alternative to text-based education. Findings will inform the future Phase 2 study development of a culturally appropriate VELT mHealth app to promote PA for Latinos, improve health literacy, and provide an alternative to traditional clinic text-based health education materials.
Benson, Amanda Clare; Bruce, Lyndell; Gordon, Brett Ashley (2015): Reliability and validity of a GPS-enabled iPhone “app” to measure physical activity. In: J Sports Sci, S. 1–8. DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2014.994659.
Abstract This study assessed the validity and reliability of an iPhoneTM “app” and two sport-specific global positioning system (GPS) units to monitor distance, intensity and contextual physical activity. Forty (23 female, 17 male) 18-55-year-olds completed two trials of six laps around a 400-m athletics track wearing GPSports ProTM and WiSpiTM units (5 and 1 Hz) and an iPhoneTM with a Motion X GPSTM “app” that used the inbuilt iPhoneTM location services application programming interface to obtain its sampling rate (which is likely to be </=1 Hz). Overall, the statistical agreement, assessed using t-tests and Bland-Altman plots, indicated an underestimation of the known track distance (2.400 km) and average speed by the Motion X GPSTM “app” and GPSports ProTM while the GPSports WiSpiTM device overestimated these outcomes. There was a </=3% variation between trials for distance and average speed when measured by any of the GPS devices. Thus, the smartphone “app” trialled could be considered as an accessible alternative to provide high-quality contextualised data to enable ubiquitous monitoring and modification of programmes to ensure appropriate intensity and type of physical activity is prescribed and more importantly adhered to.
Berg, Kelly C.; Crosby, Ross D.; Cao, Li; Crow, Scott J.; Engel, Scott G.; Wonderlich, Stephen A.; Peterson, Carol B. (2015): Negative affect prior to and following overeating-only, loss of control eating-only, and binge eating episodes in obese adults. In: Int J Eat Disord. DOI: 10.1002/eat.22401.
OBJECTIVE: The objective was to examine the trajectory of five types of negative affect (global negative affect, fear, guilt, hostility, sadness) prior to and following three types of eating episodes (overeating in the absence of loss of control [OE-only], loss of control eating in the absence of overeating [LOC-only], and binge eating) among obese adults using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). METHOD: Fifty obese adults (84% female) completed a two-week EMA protocol during which they were asked to record all eating episodes and rate each episode on continua of overeating and loss of control. Momentary measures of global negative affect, fear, guilt, hostility, and sadness were assessed using an abbreviated version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Trajectories for each of the five types of negative affect were modeled prior to and following episodes of OE-only, LOC-only, and binge eating. RESULTS: Consistent with previous findings, global negative affect and Guilt increased prior to and decreased following binge eating episodes (all ps < .05). Guilt also decreased following OE-only episodes (p < .05). DISCUSSION: These results are consistent with the affect regulation model of binge eating and suggest that binge eating may function to regulate global negative affect, and more specifically, guilt among obese adults. These data suggest that the relationship between negative affect and binge eating may not be unique to individuals with clinical eating disorders and indicate that targeting negative affect may be an effective strategy for the treatment of binge eating in the context of obesity. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc (Int J Eat Disord 2015).
Bhat, Sushanth; Ferraris, Ambra; Gupta, Divya; Mozafarian, Mona; DeBari, Vincent A.; Gushway-Henry, Neola et al. (2015): Is There a Clinical Role For Smartphone Sleep Apps? Comparison of Sleep Cycle Detection by a Smartphone Application to Polysomnography. In: J Clin Sleep Med.
STUDY OBJECTIVES: Several inexpensive, readily available smartphone apps that claim to monitor sleep are popular among patients. However, their accuracy is unknown, which limits their widespread clinical use. We therefore conducted this study to evaluate the validity of parameters reported by one such app, the Sleep Time app (Azumio, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, USA) for iPhones. METHODS: Twenty volunteers with no previously diagnosed sleep disorders underwent in-laboratory polysomnography (PSG) while simultaneously using the app. Parameters reported by the app were then compared to those obtained by PSG. In addition, an epoch-by-epoch analysis was performed by dividing the PSG and app graph into 15-min epochs. RESULTS: There was no correlation between PSG and app sleep efficiency (r = -0.127, p = 0.592), light sleep percentage (r = 0.024, p = 0.921), deep sleep percentage (r = 0.181, p = 0.444) or sleep latency (rs = 0.384, p = 0.094). The app slightly and nonsignificantly overestimated sleep efficiency by 0.12% (95% confidence interval [CI] -4.9 to 5.1%, p = 0.962), significantly underestimated light sleep by 27.9% (95% CI 19.4-36.4%, p < 0.0001), significantly overestimated deep sleep by 11.1% (CI 4.7-17.4%, p = 0.008) and significantly overestimated sleep latency by 15.6 min (CI 9.7-21.6, p < 0.0001). Epochwise comparison showed low overall accuracy (45.9%) due to poor interstage discrimination, but high accuracy in sleep-wake detection (85.9%). The app had high sensitivity but poor specificity in detecting sleep (89.9% and 50%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that the absolute parameters and sleep staging reported by the Sleep Time app (Azumio, Inc.) for iPhones correlate poorly with PSG. Further studies comparing app sleep-wake detection to actigraphy may help elucidate its potential clinical utility.
Bickham, David S.; Hswen, Yulin; Rich, Michael (2015): Media use and depression: exposure, household rules, and symptoms among young adolescents in the USA. In: Int J Public Health 60 (2), S. 147–155. DOI: 10.1007/s00038-014-0647-6.
OBJECTIVES: To determine the longitudinal and cross-sectional associations between different types of electronic media use (mobile phones, TV, computers, video games, and music) and young adolescents’ depressive symptoms, and to explore the potential for household media rules to reduce young people’s depression. METHODS: 126 young adolescents were recruited from the Northeastern USA. Each type of media use was assessed using survey questions, time use diaries, and ecological momentary assessment. The Beck Depression Index for Primary Care was administered at baseline and 1 year later as part of a questionnaire that also included items assessing the presence of household rules about TV and video games. RESULTS: Baseline use of mobile phones and TV viewing were associated with higher levels of depression 1 year later controlling for demographic information and baseline depression score. Having household rules about TV at baseline predicted lower levels of depression at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Both TV viewing and mobile phone use may contribute to the development of depressive symptoms. Implementing household rules about the duration and content of TV could help reduce depression in young adolescents.
Bin Abbas, Bassam; Al Fares, Abdullah; Jabbari, Musleh; El Dali, Abdelmoneim; Al Orifi, Fahad (2015): Effect of mobile phone short text messages on glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. In: Int J Endocrinol Metab 13 (1), S. e18791. DOI: 10.5812/ijem.18791.
BACKGROUND: Mobile phone text messaging has rapidly become a socially popular form of communication. Several studies showed that mobile phone might offer a useful means of providing information between clinic visits and might increase adherence to diabetes therapy regimens. OBJECTIVES: We conducted a study to evaluate the effect of mobile phone short message service (SMS) on glycemic control in Saudi patients with type 2 diabetes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred patients (mean age, 41 +/- 9.5 years) were selected at the Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and provided with daily educational, reminding SMS messages for four months. Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level, frequency of hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic attacks, and compliance with blood glucose monitoring were recorded before and after the trial. RESULTS: In addition to significant improvement in patients’ knowledge, mean fasting blood glucose level improved from 8.60 +/- 3.16 to 7.77 +/- 3.11 mmol/L and mean HbA1c decreased from 9.9% +/- 1.8% to 9.5% +/- 1.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Mobile phone text messaging increased adherence to diabetes therapy and improved the clinical outcome in Saudi patients with type 2 diabetes.
Black, James; Gerdtz, Marie; Nicholson, Pat; Crellin, Dianne; Browning, Laura; Simpson, Julie et al. (2015): Can simple mobile phone applications provide reliable counts of respiratory rates in sick infants and children? An initial evaluation of three new applications. In: Int J Nurs Stud 52 (5), S. 963–969. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2015.01.016.
BACKGROUND: Respiratory rate is an important sign that is commonly either not recorded or recorded incorrectly. Mobile phone ownership is increasing even in resource-poor settings. Phone applications may improve the accuracy and ease of counting of respiratory rates. OBJECTIVES: The study assessed the reliability and initial users’ impressions of four mobile phone respiratory timer approaches, compared to a 60-second count by the same participants. METHODS: Three mobile applications (applying four different counting approaches plus a standard 60-second count) were created using the Java Mobile Edition and tested on Nokia C1-01 phones. Apart from the 60-second timer application, the others included a counter based on the time for ten breaths, and three based on the time interval between breaths (‘Once-per-Breath’, in which the user presses for each breath and the application calculates the rate after 10 or 20 breaths, or after 60s). Nursing and physiotherapy students used the applications to count respiratory rates in a set of brief video recordings of children with different respiratory illnesses. Limits of agreement (compared to the same participant’s standard 60-second count), intra-class correlation coefficients and standard errors of measurement were calculated to compare the reliability of the four approaches, and a usability questionnaire was completed by the participants. RESULTS: There was considerable variation in the counts, with large components of the variation related to the participants and the videos, as well as the methods. None of the methods was entirely reliable, with no limits of agreement better than -10 to +9breaths/min. Some of the methods were superior to the others, with ICCs from 0.24 to 0.92. By ICC the Once-per-Breath 60-second count and the Once-per-Breath 20-breath count were the most consistent, better even than the 60-second count by the participants. The 10-breath approaches performed least well. Users’ initial impressions were positive, with little difference between the applications found. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that applications running on simple phones can be used to count respiratory rates in children. The Once-per-Breath methods are the most reliable, outperforming the 60-second count. For children with raised respiratory rates the 20-breath version of the Once-per-Breath method is faster, so it is a more suitable option where health workers are under time pressure.
Bleidorn, Wiebke; Denissen, Jaap J A (2015): Virtues in action - the new look of character traits. In: Br J Psychol. DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12117.
The present study aimed to take fresh look at the nature and psychological meaning of consistency in character traits and virtuous behaviour as manifested in everyday life. To this end, a 10-day experience-sampling study was conducted. Using smartphone technology, a sample of 83 working mothers and fathers provided a total of 4,342 momentary behavioural reports while being in the role of the parent versus being in the job role. Consistent with recent research on personality traits, the findings of the present study showed that people express a wide range of virtue states in their everyday lives. Within-person changes in virtue states were not random but were contingent on people’s current role context and also meaningfully related to their momentary affective experiences. At the same time, people’s average level of virtue states, their degree of variation in virtue states, and their signature ways of reacting to role contexts turned out to be stable, trait-like individual difference characteristics. Discussion focuses on the implications for the conception of character traits in scientific psychology and beyond.
Bless, Josef J.; Westerhausen, Rene; Torkildsen, Janne von Koss; Gudmundsen, Magne; Kompus, Kristiina; Hugdahl, Kenneth (2015): Laterality across languages: Results from a global dichotic listening study using a smartphone application. In: Laterality, S. 1–19. DOI: 10.1080/1357650X.2014.997245.
Left-hemispheric language dominance has been suggested by observations in patients with brain damages as early as the 19th century, and has since been confirmed by modern behavioural and brain imaging techniques. Nevertheless, most of these studies have been conducted in small samples with predominantly Anglo-American background, thus limiting generalization and possible differences between cultural and linguistic backgrounds may be obscured. To overcome this limitation, we conducted a global dichotic listening experiment using a smartphone application for remote data collection. The results from over 4,000 participants with more than 60 different language backgrounds showed that left-hemispheric language dominance is indeed a general phenomenon. However, the degree of lateralization appears to be modulated by linguistic background. These results suggest that more emphasis should be placed on cultural/linguistic specificities of psychological phenomena and on the need to collect more diverse samples.
Brose, Annette; Ebner-Priemer, Ulrich W. (2015): Ambulatory Assessment in the Research on Aging: Contemporary and Future Applications. In: Gerontology. DOI: 10.1159/000371707.
Older adults have surprisingly high levels of well-being, which has been referred to as a paradox in the past. Improved emotion regulation has been suggested to underlie these high levels of well-being. Later life is also a period with enhanced exposure to critical life events, and this comes with risks. During such times, and towards the end of life, emotional well-being may and eventually does decline. We suggest that ambulatory assessment (AA) is ideally suited for the investigation of the above phenomena and for intervention purposes. More precisely, AA can be used to thoroughly examine within-person processes of emotion regulation, including the multiple levels on which emotions occur (physiology, experience, behavior, context, and nonverbal expressions). It thereby provides a basis for understanding competent emotion regulation, the well-being paradox, and emotionally critical periods. Such insights can be utilized to detect person-specific critical periods and for designing immediate person-specific interventions. Although this is still a vision, the benefits of such an approach seem invaluable. The major part of this paper is organized around three general principles that we suggest to further tap the potential of AA in aging research, namely (1) identify within-subject processes and their relations to important life outcomes; (2) capitalize on the full scope of AA technology via multivariate assessments, and (3) combine real-time monitoring with real-time interventions. (c) 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.
Buckner, Julia D.; Zvolensky, Michael J.; Crosby, Ross D.; Wonderlich, Stephen A.; Ecker, Anthony H.; Richter, Ashley (2015): Antecedents and consequences of cannabis use among racially diverse cannabis users: an analysis from Ecological Momentary Assessment. In: Drug Alcohol Depend 147, S. 20–25. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.12.022.
BACKGROUND: Cannabis remains the most commonly used illicit substance and use rates are rising. Notably, the prevalence of cannabis use disorders (CUD) nearly equals that of other illicit substance use disorders combined. Thus, the present study aimed to identify cognitive, affective, and situational predictors and consequences of ad-lib cannabis use in a racially diverse sample. METHODS: The sample consisted of 93 current cannabis users (34.4% female; 57.1% non-Hispanic Caucasian), 87.1% of whom evinced a current CUD. Ecological Momentary Assessment was used to collect frequent ratings of cannabis withdrawal, craving, affect, cannabis use motives, and peer cannabis use over two weeks. Mixed effects linear models examined within- and between-day correlates and consequences of cannabis use. RESULTS: Withdrawal and craving were higher on cannabis use days than non-use days. Withdrawal, craving, and positive and negative affect were higher immediately prior to cannabis use compared to non-use episodes. Withdrawal and craving were higher among those who subsequently used cannabis than those who did not. Cannabis use resulted in less subsequent withdrawal, craving, and negative affect. Enhancement and coping motives were the most common reasons cited for use. Withdrawal and negative affect were related to using cannabis for coping motives and social motives. Participants were most likely to use cannabis if others were using, and withdrawal and craving were greater in social situations when others were using. CONCLUSIONS: Data support the contention that cannabis withdrawal and craving and affect and peer use play important roles in the maintenance of cannabis use.
Buller, David B.; Berwick, Marianne; Lantz, Kathy; Buller, Mary Klein; Shane, James; Kane, Ilima; Liu, Xia (2015): Evaluation of Immediate and 12-Week Effects of a Smartphone Sun-Safety Mobile Application: A Randomized Clinical Trial. In: JAMA Dermatol. DOI: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2014.3894.
Importance: Mobile applications on smartphones can communicate a large amount of personalized, real-time health information, including advice on skin cancer prevention, but their effectiveness may be affected by whether recipients can be convinced to use them. Objective: To evaluate a smartphone mobile application (Solar Cell) delivering real-time advice about sun protection for a second time in a randomized clinical trial. Design, Setting, and Participants: A previous trial conducted in 2012 used a randomized pretest-posttest design. For the present trial, we collected data from a volunteer sample of 202 adults 18 years or older who owned a smartphone. Participants were recruited nationwide through online promotions. Screening procedures and a 3-week run-in period were added to increase the use of the mobile application. We conducted follow-ups at 3 and 8 weeks after randomization to examine the immediate and the longer-term effects of the intervention. Interventions: Use of the mobile application. The application gave feedback on sun protection (ie, sun-safety practices and the risk for sunburn) and alerted users to apply or to reapply sunscreen and to get out of the sun. The application also displayed the hourly UV Index and vitamin D production based on the forecast UV Index, time, and location. Main Outcomes and Measures: Percentage of days with the use of sun protection, time spent outdoors in the midday sun (days and hours), and the number of sunburns in the last 3 months. Results: Participants in the intervention group used wide-brimmed hats more at 7 weeks than control participants (23.8% vs 17.4%; F = 4.07; P = .045). Women who used the mobile application reported using all sun protection combined more than men (46.4% vs 43.3%; F = 1.49; P = .04), whereas men and older individuals reported less use of sunscreen (32.7% vs 35.5%; F = 5.36; P = .02) and hats (15.6% vs 17.9%; F = 4.72; P = .03). Conclusions and Relevance: The mobile application initially appeared to confer weak improvement of sun protection. Use of the mobile application was greater than in a previous trial and was associated with greater sun protection, especially among women. Strategies to increase the use of the mobile application are needed if the application is to be deployed effectively to the general adult population.
Bush, Nigel E.; Dobscha, Steven K.; Crumpton, Rosa; Denneson, Lauren M.; Hoffman, Julia E.; Crain, Aysha et al. (2015): A virtual hope box smartphone app as an accessory to therapy: Proof‐of‐concept in a clinical sample of veterans. In: Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 45 (1), S. 1–9. DOI: 10.1111/sltb.12103.
A “Hope Box” is a therapeutic tool employed by clinicians with patients who are having difficulty coping with negative thoughts and stress, including patients who may be at risk of suicide or nonsuicidal self‐harm. We conducted a proof‐of‐concept test of a “Virtual” Hope Box (VHB)—a smartphone app that delivers patient‐tailored coping tools. Compared with a conventional hope box integrated into VA behavioral health treatment, high‐risk patients and their clinicians used the VHB more regularly and found the VHB beneficial, useful, easy to set up, and said they were likely to use the VHB in the future and recommend the VHB to peers.
Buxi, Dilpreet; Redoute, Jean-Michel; Yuce, Mehmet Rasit (2015): A survey on signals and systems in ambulatory blood pressure monitoring using pulse transit time. In: Physiol Meas 36 (3), S. R1-26. DOI: 10.1088/0967-3334/36/3/R1.
Blood pressure monitoring based on pulse transit or arrival time has been the focus of much research in order to design ambulatory blood pressure monitors. The accuracy of these monitors is limited by several challenges, such as acquisition and processing of physiological signals as well as changes in vascular tone and the pre-ejection period. In this work, a literature survey covering recent developments is presented in order to identify gaps in the literature. The findings of the literature are classified according to three aspects. These are the calibration of pulse transit/arrival times to blood pressure, acquisition and processing of physiological signals and finally, the design of fully integrated blood pressure measurement systems. Alternative technologies as well as locations for the measurement of the pulse wave signal should be investigated in order to improve the accuracy during calibration. Furthermore, the integration and validation of monitoring systems needs to be improved in current ambulatory blood pressure monitors.
Calahorro Canada, Fernando; Torres-Luque, Gema; Lopez Fernandez, Ivan; Santos-Lozano, Alejandro; Garatachea, Nuria; Alvarez Carnero, Elvis (2015): Physical activity and accelerometer; methodological training, recommendations and movement pa tterns in school. In: Nutr Hosp 31 (1), S. 115–128. DOI: 10.3305/nh.2015.31.1.7450.
INTRODUCTION: Over the last years, the use of accelerometers has become relevant to quantify physical activity among youth. Methods used with accelerometers might modify the results and the possibility to compare different papers. These devices have been proved to be effective and valid quantifying long periods of physical activity compared to other methods. OBJECTIVE: To show methodological criteria regarding physical activity assessed by accelerometry with schoolars. METHODOLOGY: It was conducted a review of the literature related to accelerometers and scholar-aged subjects at PubMed from January 2002 to August 2013, selecting 133 papers. RESULTS: As far as it is shown, it appears to be some tendencies related to the choice of attachment of the device, wearing time and a shorter epoch-length; however, it has been found a wide variability regarding the model of accelerometer and cutoff points used. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The different criterion used makes it difficult to compare methodological aspects among studies in spite of some papers carried out similar methods.
Carissoli, Claudia; Villani, Daniela; Riva, Giuseppe (2015): Does a meditation protocol supported by a mobile application help people reduce stress? Suggestions from a controlled pragmatic trial. In: Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 18 (1), S. 46–53. DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2014.0062.
The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of a 3 week mindfulness inspired protocol, delivered by an Android application for smartphones, in reducing stress in the adult population. By using a controlled pragmatic trial, a self-help intervention group of meditators was compared with a typical control group listening to relaxing music and a waiting list group. The final sample included 56 Italian workers as participants, block randomized to the three conditions. The self-reported level of perceived stress was assessed at the beginning and at the end of the protocol. Participants were also instructed to track their heart rate before and after each session. The results did not show any significant differences between groups, but both self-help intervention groups demonstrated an improvement in coping with stress. Nevertheless, meditators and music listeners reported a significant decrease in average heartbeats per minute after each session. Furthermore, both groups perceived a moderate but significant change in stress reduction perceptions, even if with some peculiarities. Limitations and opportunities related to the meditation protocol supported by the mobile application to reduce stress are discussed.
Carmichael, Cheryl L.; Reis, Harry T.; Duberstein, Paul R. (2015): In your 20s it’s quantity, in your 30s it’s quality: The prognostic value of social activity across 30 years of adulthood. In: Psychol Aging 30 (1), S. 95–105. DOI: 10.1037/pag0000014.
Social connection, a leading factor in the promotion of health, well-being, and longevity, requires social knowledge and the capacity to cultivate intimacy. Life span development theorists have speculated that social information-seeking goals, emphasized at the beginning of early adulthood, give way to emotional closeness goals in later stages of early adulthood. Drawing on developmental theory (Baltes & Carstensen, 2003; Baltes, 1997), this 30-year prospective study assessed social activity at age 20 and age 30 with experience sampling methods, and psychosocial outcomes (social integration, friendship quality, loneliness, depression, and psychological well-being) at age 50. Results supported the hypothesis that the quantity (but not the quality) of social interactions at age 20, and the quality (but not the quantity) of social interactions at age 30 predict midlife psychosocial outcomes. Longitudinal structural models revealed that age-20 interaction quantity had a direct, unmediated effect on age-50 social and psychological outcomes. The effects of age-20 interaction quality on midlife outcomes, on the other hand, were mediated by age-30 interaction quality. Our findings are consistent with the idea that selection and optimization serve important functions in early adulthood, and that engaging in developmentally appropriate social activity contributes to psychosocial adjustment in the decades that follow.
Carpenter, Vickie L.; Hertzberg, Jeffrey S.; Kirby, Angela C.; Calhoun, Patrick S.; Moore, Scott D.; Dennis, Michelle F. et al. (2015): Multicomponent smoking cessation treatment including mobile contingency management in homeless veterans. In: J Clin Psychiatry. DOI: 10.4088/JCP.14m09053.
INTRODUCTION: Smoking rates are 80% among persons who are homeless, and these smokers have decreased odds of quitting smoking. Little is known about relapse rates among homeless smokers. More information is needed regarding both quit rates and innovative methods to treat smoking cessation among homeless smokers. Web-based contingency management (CM) approaches have been found helpful in reducing smoking among other difficult-to-treat smoker populations but have been generally limited by the need for computers or frequent clinic-based carbon monoxide (CO) monitoring. This open pilot study builds on a web-based CM approach by evaluating a smartphone-based application for CM named mobile CM (mCM). The study was conducted from January 1, 2013-April 15, 2014. METHOD: Following a 1-week training period, 20 homeless veteran smokers (>/= 10 cigarettes daily for 1 year or more and a CO baseline level >/= 10 ppm) participated in a multicomponent smoking cessation intervention including 4 weeks of mCM. All smokers received 4 smoking cessation counseling sessions, nicotine replacement, and bupropion (if medically eligible). Participants could earn up to $815 ($480 for mCM, $100 for CO readings showing abstinence [ie, 6 ppm or less] at posttreatment and follow-up, and $35 for equipment return). RESULTS: Mean compensation for the mCM component was $286 of a possible $480. Video transmission compliance was high during the 1-week training (97%) and the 4-week treatment period (87%). Bioverified 7-day point prevalence abstinence was 50% at 4 weeks. Follow-up bioverified single assessment point prevalence abstinence was 55% at 3 months and 45% at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this open pilot study suggest that mCM may be a useful adjunctive smoking cessation treatment component for reducing smoking among homeless veterans. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01789710.
Casperson, Shanon L.; Sieling, Jared; Moon, Jon; Johnson, LuAnn; Roemmich, James N.; Whigham, Leah (2015): A mobile phone food record app to digitally capture dietary intake for adolescents in a free-living environment: usability study. In: JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 3 (1), S. e30. DOI: 10.2196/mhealth.3324.
BACKGROUND: Mobile technologies are emerging as valuable tools to collect and assess dietary intake. Adolescents readily accept and adopt new technologies; thus, a food record app (FRapp) may be a useful tool to better understand adolescents’ dietary intake and eating patterns. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the amenability of adolescents, in a free-living environment with minimal parental input, to use the FRapp to record their dietary intake. METHODS: Eighteen community-dwelling adolescents (11-14 years) received detailed instructions to record their dietary intake for 3-7 days using the FRapp. Participants were instructed to capture before and after images of all foods and beverages consumed and to include a fiducial marker in the image. Participants were also asked to provide text descriptors including amount and type of all foods and beverages consumed. RESULTS: Eight of 18 participants were able to follow all instructions: included pre- and post-meal images, a fiducial marker, and a text descriptor and collected diet records on 2 weekdays and 1 weekend day. Dietary intake was recorded on average for 3.2 (SD 1.3 days; 68% weekdays and 32% weekend days) with an average of 2.2 (SD 1.1) eating events per day per participant. A total of 143 eating events were recorded, of which 109 had at least one associated image and 34 were recorded with text only. Of the 109 eating events with images, 66 included all foods, beverages and a fiducial marker and 44 included both a pre- and post-meal image. Text was included with 78 of the captured images. Of the meals recorded, 36, 33, 35, and 39 were breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that mobile devices equipped with an app to record dietary intake will be used by adolescents in a free-living environment; however, a minority of participants followed all directions. User-friendly mobile food record apps may increase participant amenability, increasing our understanding of adolescent dietary intake and eating patterns. To improve data collection, the FRapp should deliver prompts for tasks, such as capturing images before and after each eating event, including the fiducial marker in the image, providing complete and accurate text information, and ensuring all eating events are recorded and should be customizable to individuals and to different situations. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01803997. http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01803997 (Archived at: http://www.webcitation.org/6WiV1vxoR).
Christensen, Amanda L. (2015): Feedback, affect, and creative behavior a multi-level model linking feedback to performance. In: Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences 75 (8-A(E)).
Researchers lament that feedback interventions often fail. Traditional theories assume a cognitive relationship between the receipt of feedback and its impact on employee performance. I offer a theoretical model derived from Affective Events and Broaden and Build Theories to shed new light on the feedback-performance relationship. I bridge the two primary streams of feedback literature-the passive receipt and active seeking-to examine how employees’ affective responses to feedback drive how they use feedback to improve performance. I develop and test a model whereby supervisor developmental feedback and coworker feedback seeking relate to the positivity ratio (the ratio of positive as compared to negative affect), enabling them to be more creative and thus improving their performance. I test my model using Experience Sampling Methodology with a sample of MBA students over a two week working period.
Christian, Michael S.; Eisenkraft, Noah; Kapadia, Chaitali (2015): Dynamic associations among somatic complaints, human energy, and discretionary behaviors: Experiences with pain fluctuations at work. In: Administrative Science Quarterly 60 (1), S. 66–102. DOI: 10.1177/0001839214553655.
Using data from two experience-sampling studies, this paper investigates the dynamic relationships between discretionary behaviors at work—voluntary tasks that employees perform—and internal somatic complaints, focusing specifically on a person’s pain fluctuations. Integrating theories of human energy with evidence from the organizational, psychological, and medical sciences, we argue that pain both depletes and redirects the allocation of employees’ energy. We hypothesize that somatic pain is associated with depleted resources and lowered work engagement, which in turn are related to ebbs and flows in discretionary behaviors, but that people will habituate to the negative effects of pain over time. Data from the two studies largely support our hypotheses. Study 1 explores the daily experiences of a sample of office workers with chronic pain, while Study 2 extends the findings to a larger non-clinical population and examines the effect of momentary pain during the workday. Our results suggest that pain fluctuations, through their effects on two forms of human energy, potential and in-use energy, are associated with increased withdrawal and a decrease in proactive extra-role behaviors at work. The results also suggest that employees who have experienced chronic pain for a longer time are less affected by the normally depleting effects of pain.
Ciechanowski, Leon (2015): Review of Inner experience and neuroscience: Merging both perspectives. In: Philosophical Psychology 28 (2), S. 302–306. DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2013.811575.
Reviews the book, Inner Experience and Neuroscience: Merging Both Perspectives by Donald D. Price & James J. Barrell (see record [rid]2012-18230-000[/rid]). The book is written in a very neat and comprehensive way. It is accessible both to readers familiar with neuroscience and to the others not so skilful with such terminology. To paraphrase the title, the authors have successfully merged the perspectives of two kinds of readers. On the one hand, the readers are presented with the perspective of enthusiasts and theoreticians interested in various methodologies devoted to the study of human mind from a subjective, or “first-person,” perspective, like introspection, phenomenology, the descriptive experience sampling method, the experiential analysis technique, etc. On the other hand, the readers read about such “third-person,” objective methodologies like psychophysical direct scaling, power law, and spatial/temporal summation—i.e., the methods measuring the ability to detect stimuli and the ability to detect differences in stimulus intensity. Furthermore, the authors attempt to combine these two perspectives with the use of their original experiential-phenomenological theory. What readers will not find in the book is the analysis of such contemporary academic hot topics, such as the psychophysical and experiential exploration of attention, memory, sensomotoric, or visual systems. The book is thought-provoking and, being one of the very few works devoted to a decent effort of developing a reliable and verifiable scientific methodology of studying human experience, will certainly face up to demanding readers’ tastes.
Clarke, Andrew; Steele, Robert (2014): Targeted and anonymized smartphone-based public health interventions in a participatory sensing system. In: Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2014, S. 3678–3682. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2014.6944421.
Public health interventions comprising information dissemination to affect behavioral adjustment have long been a significant component of public health campaigns. However, there has been limited development of public health intervention systems to make use of advances in mobile computing and telecommunications technologies. Such developments pose significant challenges to privacy and security where potentially sensitive data may be collected. In our previous work we identified and demonstrated the feasibility of using mobile devices as anonymous public health data collection devices as part of a Health Participatory Sensing Network (HPSN). An advanced capability of these networks extended in this paper would be the ability to distribute, apply, report on and analyze the usage and effectiveness of targeted public health interventions in an anonymous way. In this paper we describe such a platform, its place in the HPSN and demonstrate its feasibility through an implementation.
Clough, Bonnie A.; Casey, Leanne M. (2015): The Smart Therapist: A Look to the Future of Smartphones and mHealth Technologies in Psychotherapy. In: Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. DOI: 10.1037/pro0000011.
mHealth refers to the use of mobile technologies in the provision of health care and is an expanding field within psychotherapy research. Mobile technologies have the capacity to greatly enhance patient access, uptake, and engagement in psychological treatment. The purpose of the present article is to define mHealth within clinical psychology, provide a review and discussion of the functionality of mHealth devices, current trends within the field of psychological mHealth, the challenges faced by researchers and clinicians in this field, and examine directions for future research. The main areas of research identified included the use of SMS technologies, ecological momentary assessment, online and software application-based interventions and the recent integration of sensor and data mining technologies. Much of the research to date is lacking in methodological rigor, and reliance on standard research designs often used in other areas of psychological research may constrain development of interventions. Research indicates that consumers want to engage in mHealth interventions, although only a limited number of empirically supported options currently exist. Future research incorporating innovative trial designs is required to meet consumer demand and provide users with evidence-based treatment options.
Cohn, Amy; Brandon, Thomas; Armeli, Stephen; Ehlke, Sarah; Bowers, Molly (2015): Real-time patterns of smoking and alcohol use: an observational study protocol of risky-drinking smokers. In: BMJ Open 5 (1), S. e007046. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007046.
INTRODUCTION: Despite the strong relationship between smoking and health-related consequences, very few smokers quit. Heavy drinking is a significant risk factor for health consequences, and is implicated in persistent smoking and less success at quitting smoking. Self-efficacy (SE) to abstain from smoking is an important determinant of smoking outcomes and may link alcohol use to poor quit rates. Even though research has demonstrated a strong association between drinking and smoking, and the multiplicative effect of these substances on cancer-related, heavy-drinking smokers has been largely ignored in the literature. Further, research has not taken advantage of innovative methods, such as ecological momentary assessment, to capture the impact of daily factors on smoking cessation outcomes in this particular group. The proposed study identifies daily changing factors that impede or promote SE and future smoking cessation efforts in risky-drinking smokers. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is an observational study of 84 regular smokers (>/=10 cigarettes per day) who drink at risky levels, report a desire to quit in the next 6 months, and show no evidence of psychiatric disturbance, severe history of alcohol withdrawal or drug dependence (excluding nicotine and caffeine). Participants report on their smoking, alcohol consumption and SE related to smoking twice a day for 28 days using interactive voice response (IVR) surveys. Multilevel regression and path models will examine within-person daily associations among drinking, smoking and SE, and how these variables predict the likelihood of future smoking behaviour at 1 and 6 months follow-up. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This protocol was approved by an accredited Institutional Review Board. The findings will help us understand the factors that promote or impede smoking cessation among a high-risk group of smokers (heavy-drinking smokers) and will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal articles and presentations at national conferences.
Dekker-van Weering, Marit G H; Vollenbroek-Hutten, Miriam M R; Hermens, Hermie J. (2015): A pilot study - the potential value of an activity-based feedback system for treatment of individuals with chronic lower back pain. In: Disabil Rehabil, S. 1–7. DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1019009.
Abstract Purpose: The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the potential value of a new personalized activity-based feedback treatment. Method: A prognostic cohort study was carried out in the daily environment of the patients. Seventeen individuals with chronic lower back pain (CLBP) symptoms for >3 months were included. Patients were from the Netherlands, aged 18-65 years. Patients wore an accelerometer and a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) for 15 d. Patients received continuous and time-related personalized feedback and were instructed to follow the activity pattern as displayed on the PDA. Technical performance and compliance with the system were rated. Objective and subjective activity scores were compared for exploring awareness. The absolute difference between the activity pattern of the patient and the norm value used was calculated and expressed as mean difference. Pain intensity was measured using the VAS. Results: The technical performance and compliance with the system were rated moderate. More than half of the patients were aware of their activity level during the feedback days (67%). A positive effect of the feedback was seen in a trend which showed a decrease in the absolute difference between the activity pattern of the patient and the norm value (p = 0.149) and a significant decrease in pain intensity levels (p = 0.005). Conclusions: This pilot study suggested that an individual-tailored feedback system that focuses on the activity behavior of the patient has potential as the treatment of individuals with CLBP. Implications for Rehabilitation Activity-based feedback for individuals with chronic low back pain: Many patients are not aware of their activity patterns. The activity patterns of patients differ from those of healthy controls. It is important to make patients aware of their activity patterns in order to change activity behavior. An individual-tailored feedback system seems promising in decreasing pain intensity levels for a subgroup of patients.
Depp, Colin A.; Ceglowski, Jenni; Wang, Vicki C.; Yaghouti, Faraz; Mausbach, Brent T.; Thompson, Wesley K.; Granholm, Eric L. (2015): Augmenting psychoeducation with a mobile intervention for bipolar disorder: A randomized controlled trial. In: Journal of Affective Disorders 174, S. 23–30. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.053.
Background: Psychosocial interventions for bipolar disorder are frequently unavailable and resource intensive. Mobile technology may improve access to evidence-based interventions and may increase their efficacy. We evaluated the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of an augmentative mobile ecological momentary intervention targeting self-management of mood symptoms. Methods: This was a randomized single-blind controlled trial with 82 consumers diagnosed with bipolar disorder who completed a four-session psychoeducational intervention and were assigned to 10 weeks of either: 1) mobile device delivered interactive intervention linking patient-reported mood states with personalized self-management strategies, or 2) paper-and-pencil mood monitoring. Participants were assessed at baseline, 6 weeks (mid-point), 12 weeks (post-treatment), and 24 weeks (follow up) with clinician-rated depression and mania scales and self-reported functioning. Results: Retention at 12 weeks was 93% and both conditions were associated with high satisfaction. Compared to the paper-and-pencil condition, participants in the augmented mobile intervention condition showed significantly greater reductions in depressive symptoms at 6 and 12 weeks (Cohen’s d for both were d = 0.48). However, these effects were not maintained at 24-weeks follow up. Conditions did not differ significantly in the impact on manic symptoms or functional impairment. Limitations: This was not a definitive trial and was not powered to detect moderators and mediators. Conclusions: Automated mobile-phone intervention is feasible, acceptable, and may enhance the impact of brief psychoeducation on depressive symptoms in bipolar disorder. However, sustainment of gains from symptom self-management mobile interventions, once stopped, may be limited.
Derks, Daantje; Duin, Desiree; Tims, Maria; Bakker, Arnold B. (2015): Smartphone use and work–home interference: The moderating role of social norms and employee work engagement. In: Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 88 (1), S. 155–177. DOI: 10.1111/joop.12083.
Work in our modern society that is facilitated by communication technology involves connectivity, immediacy, and a blurring of boundaries between work and non‐work domains. This 4‐day quantitative diary study (N = 100 employees, N = 367–400 data points) aims to shed light on the relationship between daily smartphone use and daily work–home interference (WHI). Two potential moderators of this relationship are examined: (1) (strong) social norms represented by the influence of colleagues and supervisors regarding availability after work hours and (2) work engagement. Overall, the results of multilevel analyses were in line with the hypotheses. The findings suggest that supervisors should be clear about their expectations regarding smartphone use in private hours in that they should not expect employees to be always available. In addition we conclude that engaged workers can prevent work from interfering too much with their private lives, even when they use their smartphones during evening hours.
Dieffenderfer, James P.; Beppler, Eric; Novak, Tristan; Whitmire, Eric; Jayakumar, Rochana; Randall, Clive et al. (2014): Solar powered wrist worn acquisition system for continuous photoplethysmogram monitoring. In: Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2014, S. 3142–3145. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2014.6944289.
We present a solar-powered, wireless, wrist-worn platform for continuous monitoring of physiological and environmental parameters during the activities of daily life. In this study, we demonstrate the capability to produce photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals using this platform. To adhere to a low power budget for solar-powering, a 574 nm green light source is used where the PPG from the radial artery would be obtained with minimal signal conditioning. The system incorporates two monocrystalline solar cells to charge the onboard 20 mAh lithium polymer battery. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is used to tether the device to a smartphone that makes the phone an access point to a dedicated server for long term continuous storage of data. Two power management schemes have been proposed depending on the availability of solar energy. In low light situations, if the battery is low, the device obtains a 5-second PPG waveform every minute to consume an average power of 0.57 mW. In scenarios where the battery is at a sustainable voltage, the device is set to enter its normal 30 Hz acquisition mode, consuming around 13.7 mW. We also present our efforts towards improving the charge storage capacity of our on-board super-capacitor.
DiFilippo, Kristen N.; Huang, Wen-Hao; Andrade, Juan E.; Chapman-Novakofski, Karen M. (2015): The use of mobile apps to improve nutrition outcomes: A systematic literature review. In: J Telemed Telecare. DOI: 10.1177/1357633X15572203.
We conducted a systematic review to determine if the use of nutrition apps resulted in improved outcomes, including knowledge and behavior, among healthy adults. Using app(s), cellular phone, iPads, mobile phone, mobile telephone, smart phone, mobile and mHealth as search terms with diet, food and nutrition as qualifiers we searched PubMed, CINAHL (January 2008-October 2013) and Web of Science (January 2008-January 2014). Inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials, non-controlled trials, and cohort studies published in English that used apps to increase nutrition knowledge or improve behavior related to nutrition. Studies that were descriptive, did not include apps, focused on app development, app satisfaction app feasibility, text messaging, or digital photography were excluded. We evaluated article quality using the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Evidence Analysis Manual. Data was extracted for knowledge, behavior and weight change. Our initial search identified 12,010 titles from PubMed, 260 from CINAHL and 4762 from Web of Science; of these, only four articles met all search criteria. Positive quality ratings were given to three articles; only one reported knowledge outcomes (non-significant). All four articles evaluated weight loss and suggested an advantage to using nutrition apps. Behavioral changes in reviewed studies included increased adherence to diet monitoring (p < 0.001) and decreased effort to continue diet without app (p = 0.024). Few studies, however, have explored the use of nutrition apps as supportive educational interventions. Most apps focus on weight loss with inconsistent outcomes. We conclude that using apps for education needs additional research which includes behavior theory within the app and improved study design.
Domingues, Alexandre (2015): Smartphone based monitoring system for long-term sleep assessment In: Methods Mol Biol 1256, S. 391–403. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2172-0_26.
The diagnosis of sleep disorders, highly prevalent in Western countries, typically involves sophisticated procedures and equipment that are highly intrusive to the patient. The high processing capabilities and storage capacity of current portable devices, together with a big range of available sensors, many of them with wireless capabilities, create new opportunities and change the paradigms in sleep studies. In this work, a smartphone based sleep monitoring system is presented along with the details of the hardware, software and algorithm implementation. The aim of this system is to provide a way for subjects, with no pre-diagnosed sleep disorders, to monitor their sleep habits, and on the initial screening of abnormal sleep patterns.
Dong, Yuntao; Liao, Hui; Chuang, Aichia; Zhou, Jing; Campbell, Elizabeth M. (2015): Fostering Employee Service Creativity: Joint Effects of Customer Empowering Behaviors and Supervisory Empowering Leadership. In: J Appl Psychol. DOI: 10.1037/a0038969.
Integrating insights from the literature on customers’ central role in service and the literature on employee creativity, we offer theoretical and empirical account of how and when customer empowering behaviors can motivate employee creativity during service encounters and, subsequently, influence customer satisfaction with service experience. Using multilevel, multisource, experience sampling data from 380 hairstylists matched with 3550 customers in 118 hair salons, we found that customer empowering behaviors were positively related to employee creativity and subsequent customer satisfaction via employee state promotion focus. Results also showed that empowering behaviors from different agents function synergistically in shaping employee creativity: supervisory empowering leadership strengthened the indirect effect of customer empowering behaviors on employee creativity via state promotion focus.
Droit-Volet, Sylvie; Wearden, John H. (2015): Experience Sampling Methodology reveals similarities in the experience of passage of time in young and elderly adults. In: Acta Psychol (Amst) 156, S. 77–82. DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.01.006.
Many people accept the idea that time seems to pass more quickly as they get older, as if this is a psychological reality. However, systematic investigations of differences in judgments of passage of time between young and elderly people are very rare and contradictory. The present study examined the experience of passage of time in daily life in young and elderly people using Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM), with 8 alerts per day for 5days being delivered by smartphones. At each alert, a short questionnaire was filled in, asking questions about passage of present time, affective state, arousal level, and attention to current activities, among others. Our ESM study found no difference between the young and the old participants in the judgment of passage of present time. Irrespective of the participants’ age, the experience of passage of time in every-day life was significantly related to affective states and current activities when they captured attention.
Ebner-Priemer, Ulrich W.; Houben, Marlies; Santangelo, Philip; Kleindienst, Nikolaus; Tuerlinckx, Francis; Oravecz, Zita et al. (2015): Unraveling affective dysregulation in borderline personality disorder: a theoretical model and empirical evidence. In: J Abnorm Psychol 124 (1), S. 186–198. DOI: 10.1037/abn0000021.
Although emotion dysregulation has consistently been conceptualized as a core problem of borderline personality disorder (BPD), a comprehensive, and empirically and ecologically validated model that captures the exact types of dysregulation remains absent. In the present article, we combine insights from basic affective science and the biosocial theory of BPD to present a theoretical model that captures the most fundamental affective dynamical processes that underlie BPD and stipulates that individuals with BPD are characterized by more negative affective homebases, higher levels of affective variability, and lower levels of attractor strength or return to baseline. Next, we empirically validate this proposal by statistically modeling data from three electronic diary studies on emotional responses to personally relevant stimuli in personally relevant environments that were collected both from patients with BPD (N = 50, 42, and 43) and from healthy subjects (N = 50, 24, and 28). The results regarding negative affective homebases and heightened affective variabilities consistently confirmed our hypotheses across all three datasets. The findings regarding attractor strengths (i.e., return to baseline) were less consistent and of smaller magnitude. The transdiagnostic nature of our approach may help to elucidate the common and distinctive mechanisms that underlie several different disorders that are characterized by affective dysregulation.
Erbas, Yasemin; Ceulemans, Eva; Koval, Peter; Kuppens, Peter (2015): The Role of Valence Focus and Appraisal Overlap in Emotion Differentiation. In: Emotion. DOI: 10.1037/emo0000039.
Emotion differentiation refers to the level of specificity with which people distinguish between their emotional states and is considered to play an important role for psychological well-being. Yet, not much is known about what characterizes people high or low in emotion differentiation and what underlies these differences. In 2 studies involving experience sampling (Studies 1-2) and lab based (Study 2) methods, we investigated how emotion differentiation is related to individual differences in valence focus and the overlap in appraisal patterns between emotions. In line with expectations, results showed that high levels of both positive and negative emotion differentiation are related to lower levels of valence focus and lower levels of appraisal overlap between emotions. These findings suggest that individuals who are low in emotion differentiation mainly emphasize the valence aspect of emotions while individuals who are high in emotion differentiation make stronger distinctions between emotions in terms of their underlying appraisal profiles.
Fairburn, Christopher G.; Rothwell, Emily R. (2015): Apps and eating disorders: A systematic clinical appraisal. In: Int J Eat Disord. DOI: 10.1002/eat.22398.
OBJECTIVE: Smartphone applications (apps) are proliferating and health-related apps are particularly popular. The aim of this study was to identify, characterize, and evaluate the clinical utility of apps designed either for people with eating disorders or for eating disorder professionals. METHOD: A search of the major app stores identified 805 potentially relevant apps, of which 39 were primarily designed for people with eating disorders and five for professionals. RESULTS: The apps for people with eating disorders had four main functions. Most common was the provision of advice, the quality of which ranged from sound to potentially harmful. Five apps included self-assessment tools but only two used methods that would generally be viewed as reliable. Four apps had the self-monitoring of eating habits as a major feature. Entering information into these apps could be accomplished with varying degrees of ease, but viewing it was more difficult. One app allowed the transfer of information between patients and clinicians. DISCUSSION: The enthusiasm for apps outstrips the evidence supporting their use. Given their popularity, it is suggested that clinicians evaluate app use as part of routine assessment. The clinical utility of the existing apps is not clear. Some are capable of tracking key features over time, but none has the functions required for analytic self-monitoring as in cognitive behavioral treatments. The full potential of apps has yet to be realized. Specialized apps could be designed to augment various forms of treatment, and there is the possibility that they could deliver an entire personalized intervention. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.(Int J Eat Disord 2015).
Farmer, Antonina S.; Kashdan, Todd B. (2015): Stress sensitivity and stress generation in social anxiety disorder: A temporal process approach. In: Journal of Abnormal Psychology 124 (1), S. 102–114. DOI: 10.1037/abn0000036.
Dominant theoretical models of social anxiety disorder (SAD) suggest that people who suffer from function-impairing social fears are likely to react more strongly to social stressors. Researchers have examined the reactivity of people with SAD to stressful laboratory tasks, but there is little knowledge about how stress affects their daily lives. We asked 79 adults from the community, 40 diagnosed with SAD and 39 matched healthy controls, to self-monitor their social interactions, social events, and emotional experiences over 2 weeks using electronic diaries. These data allowed us to examine associations of social events and emotional well-being both within-day and from one day to the next. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we found all participants to report increases in negative affect and decreases in positive affect and self-esteem on days when they experienced more stressful social events. However, people with SAD displayed greater stress sensitivity, particularly in negative emotion reactions to stressful social events, compared to healthy controls. Groups also differed in how previous days’ events influenced sensitivity to current days’ events. Moreover, we found evidence of stress generation in that the SAD group reported more frequent interpersonal stress, though temporal analyses did not suggest greater likelihood of social stress on days following intense negative emotions. Our findings support the role of heightened social stress sensitivity in SAD, highlighting rigidity in reactions and occurrence of stressful experiences from one day to the next. These findings also shed light on theoretical models of emotions and self-esteem in SAD and present important clinical implications.
Fatseas, Melina; Serre, Fuschia; Alexandre, Jean-Marc; Debrabant, Romain; Auriacombe, Marc; Swendsen, Joel (2015): Craving and substance use among patients with alcohol, tobacco, cannabis or heroin addiction: a comparison of substance-specific and person-specific cues. In: Addiction. DOI: 10.1111/add.12882.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: It is well-established that craving increases following exposure to substance-related ‘cues’, but the role of lifestyles or substance use habits that are unique to each person remains poorly understood. This study examines the association of substance-specific and personal cues with craving and substance use in daily life. DESIGN: Ecological Momentary Assessment was used over a two-week period. SETTING: Data were collected in a French outpatient addiction treatment center. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 132 outpatients beginning treatment for alcohol, tobacco, cannabis or opiate addiction were included. MEASUREMENTS: Using mobile technologies, participants were questioned four times per day relative to craving, substance use, and exposure to either substance-specific cues (e.g. seeing a syringe) or personal cues unique to that individual (e.g. seeing the specific person with whom the substance is used). FINDINGS: Craving intensity was associated with the number of concurrently-assessed substance-specific cues (t = 4.418, p < 0.001) and person-specific cues (t = 4.006, p < 0.001) when analyzed jointly within the same model. However, only person-specific cues were associated with increases in craving over subsequent hours of the day (t = 2.598, p < 0.05). Craving intensity, in turn, predicted increases in later substance use (t = 4.076, p < 0.001). Causal mediation analyses demonstrated that the association of cues with later substance use was mediated by craving intensity (mediated effect = 0.007, 95% CI = 0.004-0.011). CONCLUSIONS: Unique person-specific cues appear to have a robust effect on craving addictive substances, and the duration of this association may persist longer than for more general substance-specific cues. Mobile technologies provide new opportunities for understanding these person-specific risk factors, and for providing individually-tailored interventions.
Ferguson, Scott; Friedland, Daniel; Woodberry, Emma (2015): Smartphone technology: Gentle reminders of everyday tasks for those with prospective memory difficulties post-brain injury. In: Brain Inj, S. 1–9. DOI: 10.3109/02699052.2014.1002109.
Abstract Background: Prospective memory is a common deficit following brain injury that can reduce an individuals’ ability to complete everyday tasks. The smartphone is a device that may compensate for these difficulties using the calendar’s prompting function. Reminders can be programmed remotely using email to phone synchronization. Objective: To explore whether smartphone reminders help people complete pre-identified tasks as compared to when reminders are not provided. Methods: An ABAB case series design compared reminder present vs. reminder absent phases with regards completion of pre-set tasks. Six participants aged 24-55 with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and five caregivers participated in the study. Both completed a series of questionnaires looking at the impact of the smartphone reminders on everyday memory functioning at pre, post and follow-up. A 3-month follow-up questionnaire assessed continued use of the system. Results: There was a significant improvement in task completion rates when smartphone reminders were provided. A thematic analysis identified that smartphone reminders improved independence, confidence in coping with memory difficulties and general mood. All participants were still using the system at 3-month follow-up. Conclusions: Smartphone reminders may provide a cost-effective, accessible and non-stigmatizing tool for participants to compensate for prospective memory difficulties.
Ferguson, Stuart G.; Frandsen, Mai; Dunbar, Michael S.; Shiffman, Saul (2015): Gender and stimulus control of smoking behavior. In: Nicotine Tob Res 17 (4), S. 431–437. DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntu195.
INTRODUCTION: Gender differences in smoking behavior have been proposed to account for poorer outcomes among women attempting to quit. Specifically, it has been suggested that women’s smoking behavior is less motivated by nicotine-seeking and more driven by environmental cues. To date, however, few real-world studies have examined the hypothesis that women’s smoking is under greater stimulus control. METHODS: One hundred and ninety four daily smokers (men = 107; women = 87) completed 3 weeks of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) monitoring that provided data on real-world smoking behavior by reporting on situational contexts shown by previous research to influence smoking behavior (including social setting, cigarette availability, alcohol consumption, and mood). RESULTS: Analyses of particular cues found few gender differences; however, men’s smoking increased to a greater extent compared with women’s when they were with others who were smoking. Idiographic analyses that allow individual subjects to have different directions of linkage to situational cues also were conducted to assess how predictable subjects’ smoking was from a range of contextual characteristics. Compared with women, men’s smoking was significantly more closely tied to food/alcohol consumption and tended to be more closely tied to social context. No other gender differences were found. CONCLUSIONS: EMA analyses suggest that men and women are similarly influenced by cues, including mood. Where there were gender differences, it was men rather than women whose smoking behavior was more influenced by cues. The data contradict the hypothesis that women’s smoking is more influenced by cues.
Floridou, Georgia A.; Mullensiefen, Daniel (2015): Environmental and mental conditions predicting the experience of involuntary musical imagery: An experience sampling method study. In: Conscious Cogn 33, S. 472–486. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.02.012.
An experience sampling method (ESM) study on 40 volunteers was conducted to explore the environmental factors and psychological conditions related to involuntary musical imagery (INMI) in everyday life. Participants reported 6 times per day for one week on their INMI experiences, relevant contextual information and associated environmental conditions. The resulting data was modeled with Bayesian networks and led to insights into the interplay of factors related to INMI experiences. The activity that a person is engaged was found to play an important role in the experience of mind wandering, which in turn enables the experience of INMI. INMI occurrence is independent of the time of the day while the INMI trigger affects the subjective evaluation of the INMI experience. The results are compared to findings from earlier studies based on retrospective surveys and questionnaires and highlight the advantage of ESM techniques in research on spontaneous experiences like INMI.
Garcia Murillo, Lourdes; Cortese, Samuele; Anderson, David; Di Martino, Adriana; Castellanos, Francisco Xavier (2015): Locomotor activity measures in the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Meta-analyses and new findings. In: J Neurosci Methods. DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2015.03.001.
INTRODUCTION: Our aim was to assess differences in movement measures in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) vs. typically developing (TD) controls. METHODS: We performed meta-analyses of published studies on motion measures contrasting ADHD with controls. We also conducted a case-control study with children/adolescents (n=61 TD, n=62 ADHD) and adults (n=30 TD, n=19 ADHD) using the McLean motion activity test, semi-structured diagnostic interviews and the behavior rating inventory of executive function and Conners (parent, teacher; self) rating scales. RESULTS: Meta-analyses revealed medium-to-large effect sizes for actigraph (standardized mean difference [SMD]: 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.43, 0.85) and motion tracking systems (SDM: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.65, 1.20) measures in differentiating individuals with ADHD from controls. Effects sizes were similar in studies of children/adolescents ([SMD]: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.50, 1.01) and of adults ([SMD]: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.46, 1.00). In our sample, ADHD groups differed significantly in number of head movements (p=0.02 in children; p=0.002 in adults), displacement (p=0.009/p<0.001), head area (p=0.03/p<0.001), spatial complexity (p=0.06/p=0.02) and temporal scaling (p=0.05/p=0.04). Mean effect sizes were non-significantly larger (d=0.83, 95% CI: 0.20, 1.45) in adults vs. children/adolescents with ADHD (d=0.45, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.82). In the concurrent go/no-go task, reaction time variability was significantly greater in ADHD (p<0.05 in both age groups) than controls. CONCLUSIONS: Locomotor hyperactivity remains core to the construct of ADHD even in adults. Our results suggest that objective locomotion measures may be particularly useful in evaluating adults with possible ADHD.
Gardner, Robert S.; Ascoli, Giorgio A. (2015): The Natural Frequency of Human Prospective Memory Increases With Age. In: Psychol Aging. DOI: 10.1037/a0038876.
Autobiographical memory (AM), the recollection of past experiences, and prospective memory (PM), the prospection of future events, are prominent components of subjective life, yet data on the frequencies of their occurrence are limited. Using experience sampling, we quantified the incidence of AM and PM in natural settings among various age groups. Individuals of all ages reported engaging in AM approximately 10% of the time. In contrast, whereas younger subjects recalled PMs as often as they recalled AMs, older subjects experienced PM twice as frequently. AM occurrence was positively correlated with PM occurrence, most strongly among younger individuals. AM and PM durations were also positively correlated and remarkably stable across age groups. Together, these data identify an age-associated shift in the temporal orientation of recollection and quantify the relationship between AM and PM. More broadly, this approach provides a quantitative foundation of AM and PM occurrence, a crucial yet largely unexplored dimension of recollection.
Garland, Eric L.; Geschwind, Nicole; Peeters, Frenk; Wichers, Marieke (2015): Mindfulness training promotes upward spirals of positive affect and cognition: multilevel and autoregressive latent trajectory modeling analyses. In: Front Psychol 6, S. 15. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00015.
Recent theory suggests that positive psychological processes integral to health may be energized through the self-reinforcing dynamics of an upward spiral to counter emotion dysregulation. The present study examined positive emotion-cognition interactions among individuals in partial remission from depression who had been randomly assigned to treatment with mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT; n = 64) or a waitlist control condition (n = 66). We hypothesized that MBCT stimulates upward spirals by increasing positive affect and positive cognition. Experience sampling assessed changes in affect and cognition during 6 days before and after treatment, which were analyzed with a series of multilevel and autoregressive latent trajectory models. Findings suggest that MBCT was associated with significant increases in trait positive affect and momentary positive cognition, which were preserved through autoregressive and cross-lagged effects driven by global emotional tone. Findings suggest that daily positive affect and cognition are maintained by an upward spiral that might be promoted by mindfulness training.
Gautreau, Chantal; Sherry, Simon; Battista, Susan; Goldstein, Abby; Stewart, Sherry (2015): Enhancement motives moderate the relationship between high-arousal positive moods and drinking quantity: Evidence from a 22-day experience sampling study. In: Drug Alcohol Rev. DOI: 10.1111/dar.12235.
INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Individuals who consume alcohol may be distinguished by their drinking motives. Enhancement motives involve drinking to enhance positive moods. Research on the moderating effect of enhancement motives on the within-person relation between daily positive mood and drinking has not differentiated between high- (e.g. hyper) and low-arousal (e.g. cheerful) positive moods. The present study addressed this limitation. We hypothesised that enhancement motives would positively moderate the relationship between mid-afternoon high-arousal positive mood and evening drinking. DESIGN AND METHODS: Using a palm pilot-based experience sampling design, 143 undergraduate drinkers answered daily surveys assessing positive mood (mid-afternoon) and drinks (evening) for 22 consecutive days. RESULTS: As hypothesised, enhancement motives strengthened the relation between high-arousal positive moods and drinking. Upon closer examination, the mood-drinking slope for those high in enhancement motives was unexpectedly flat, whereas the mood-drinking slope for those low in enhancement motives was negative. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that high enhancement-motivated drinkers exhibit a high, stable drinking level, regardless of the intensity of their high-arousal positive mood. In contrast, low enhancement-motivated drinkers decrease their drinking when in a high-arousal positive mood state. Clinicians may be able to help reduce heavy alcohol consumption in enhancement-motivated drinkers by teaching them to reduce their drinking when in a high-arousal positive mood state. [Gautreau C, Sherry S, Battista S, Goldstein A, Stewart S. Enhancement motives moderate the relationship between high-arousal positive moods and drinking quantity: Evidence from a 22-day experience sampling study. Drug Alcohol Rev 2015].
Goldschmidt, Andrea B.; Accurso, Erin C.; Schreiber-Gregory, Deanna N.; Crosby, Ross D.; Cao, Li; Engel, Scott G. et al. (2015): Behavioral, emotional, and situational context of purging episodes in anorexia nervosa. In: Int J Eat Disord 48 (3), S. 341–344. DOI: 10.1002/eat.22381.
OBJECTIVE: The current study examined behavioral, emotional, and situational factors involved in purging among women with anorexia nervosa (AN). METHOD: Women with AN (n=118) completed a two-week ecological momentary assessment protocol involving daily reports of eating disorder behaviors, mood, and stressful events. Generalized estimating equations examined the likelihood and context of purging following eating episodes involving both overeating and loss of control (binge eating; BE); loss of control only (LOC); overeating only (OE); and neither loss of control nor overeating (non-pathological eating; NE). RESULTS: Relative to NE, purging was more likely to occur following BE, LOC, and OE (Wald chi-square = 18.05; p < .001). BE was more strongly associated with subsequent purging than LOC but not OE; the latter two did not differ from one another. Negative affect predicted purging following NE (Wald chi-square = 7.71; p = .005). DISCUSSION: Binge eating involving large amounts of food was the strongest predictor of purging in AN, which challenges the notion that loss of control is the most salient aspect of experiencing distress in bulimia nervosa and BE disorder. Parallel to findings from the BE literature, negative affect strongly predicted purging following NE. Further research should clarify the function and triggers of purging in AN. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2015; 48:341-344).
Goldsmith, Jeff; Zipunnikov, Vadim; Schrack, Jennifer (2015): Generalized multilevel function-on-scalar regression and principal component analysis. In: Biometrics. DOI: 10.1111/biom.12278.
This manuscript considers regression models for generalized, multilevel functional responses: functions are generalized in that they follow an exponential family distribution and multilevel in that they are clustered within groups or subjects. This data structure is increasingly common across scientific domains and is exemplified by our motivating example, in which binary curves indicating physical activity or inactivity are observed for nearly 600 subjects over 5 days. We use a generalized linear model to incorporate scalar covariates into the mean structure, and decompose subject-specific and subject-day-specific deviations using multilevel functional principal components analysis. Thus, functional fixed effects are estimated while accounting for within-function and within-subject correlations, and major directions of variability within and between subjects are identified. Fixed effect coefficient functions and principal component basis functions are estimated using penalized splines; model parameters are estimated in a Bayesian framework using Stan, a programming language that implements a Hamiltonian Monte Carlo sampler. Simulations designed to mimic the application have good estimation and inferential properties with reasonable computation times for moderate datasets, in both cross-sectional and multilevel scenarios; code is publicly available. In the application we identify effects of age and BMI on the time-specific change in probability of being active over a 24-hour period; in addition, the principal components analysis identifies the patterns of activity that distinguish subjects and days within subjects.
Gosling, Samuel D.; Mason, Winter (2015): Internet research in psychology. In: Annual Review of Psychology 66, S. 877–902. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015321.
Today the Internet plays a role in the lives of nearly 40% of the world’s population, and it is becoming increasingly entwined in daily life. This growing presence is transforming psychological science in terms of the topics studied and the methods used. We provide an overview of the literature, considering three broad domains of research: translational (implementing traditional methods online; e.g., surveys), phenomenological (topics spawned or mediated by the Internet; e.g., cyberbullying), and novel (new ways to study existing topics; e.g., rumors). We discuss issues (e.g., sampling, ethics) that arise when doing research online and point to emerging opportunities (e.g., smartphone sensing). Psychological research on the Internet comes with new challenges, but the opportunities far outweigh the costs. By integrating the Internet, psychological research has the ability to reach large, diverse samples and collect data on actual behaviors, which will ultimately increase the impact of psychological research on society.
Graham, James M.; Harf, Mikaela R. (2015): Self‐expansion and flow: The roles of challenge, skill, affect, and activation. In: Personal Relationships 22 (1), S. 45–64. DOI: 10.1111/pere.12062.
The self‐expansion model posits that engaging in challenging activities with one’s romantic partner increases the quality of that romantic relationship. Research on flow suggests that the optimal level of challenge for such experiences is determined by the skill of the individual. In a series of 5 studies spanning experimental, survey, and experience sampling methodologies, we elaborate on the self‐expansion model to describe how activity challenge effects romantic relationship quality. The results suggest that engaging in challenging activities with one’s partner results in increases in relationship quality, though this effect is dependent on the skill of the individual. Changes in affect appear to fully mediate this process. We present a theoretical model combining self‐expansion and flow theories.
Grund, Axel; Grunschel, Carola; Bruhn, Dominik; Fries, Stefan (2015): Torn between want and should: An experience-sampling study on motivational conflict, well-being, self-control, and mindfulness. In: Motivation and Emotion. DOI: 10.1007/s11031-015-9476-z.
We assumed that situations of motivational want conflict (i.e., feeling that one wants to do something else) and should conflict (i.e., thinking that one should do something else) show differential relationships to different components of well-being because more affective or more cognitive motivational aspects are ignored, respectively. Moreover, we assumed that these differences contribute to the understanding of different self-regulatory styles. Using an experience-sampling approach, 58 university students indicated their current affect, the underlying form of motivation, and whether they experienced a want or a should conflict regarding their daily activities (N = 2376). Furthermore, we assessed participants’ self-control and mindfulness before and life satisfaction after the experience-sampling period. As expected, want conflicts came along with lower affective well-being, but were unrelated to cognitive life satisfaction. Although should conflicts also yielded a small, negative association with some aspects of affective well-being, overall, their negative relation with life satisfaction was more pronounced. Positive paths of self-control on affective well-being were mediated via less want and should conflicts, whereas positive paths of both mindfulness and self-control on life satisfaction were mediated via less should conflicts. The relative importance of want and should conflicts in daily self-regulation and well-being is discussed.
Guillory, Jamie; Chang, Pamara; Henderson, Charles R Jr; Shengelia, Rouzi; Lama, Sonam; Warmington, Marcus et al. (2015): Piloting a Text Message-Based Social Support Intervention for Patients with Chronic Pain: Establishing Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy. In: Clin J Pain. DOI: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000193.
OBJECTIVES:: To examine preliminarily the effectiveness of a SMS text message-based social support intervention for reducing daily pain and pain interference levels, improving affect and perceptions of social support in patients with chronic non-cancer pain, and exploring the feasibility of a novel mobile application to track perceptions of pain and pain-interference. MATERIALS AND METHODS:: Participants (17 men, 51 women) from two pain clinics in New York City downloaded a pain tracking App to their smartphone and employed it to record twice-daily pain, pain interference, and affect scores over the 4-week study period. Participants were randomly assigned to receive standard care (control) or standard care along with receipt of twice-daily supportive SMS text messages delivered during the 2 and 3 week of the study (intervention). Demographic and clinical data were obtained at baseline, and social support measures were administered at baseline and at 4-weeks. Statistical analysis was carried out using general linear mixed models taking into account variances associated with time of assessments and with patients. RESULTS:: The social support intervention reduced perceptions of pain and pain interference and improved positive affect for chronic non-cancer pain patients assigned to the intervention condition in comparison to controls. Participants completed approximately 80% of the daily measurements requested. DISCUSSION:: These findings establish the feasibility of collecting daily pain data using a mobile tracking App and provide significant implications and insight into a nuanced approach to reducing the daily experience of pain via mobile technology, especially because of its accessibility.
Guiry, John J.; Karr, Chris J.; van de Ven, Pepijn; Nelson, John; Begale, Mark (2014): A single vs. multi-sensor approach to enhanced detection of smartphone placement. In: Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2014, S. 3691–3694. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2014.6944424.
In this paper, the authors evaluate the ability to detect on-body device placement of smartphones. A feasibility study is undertaken with N=5 participants to identify nine key locations, including in the hand, thigh and backpack, using a multitude of commonly available smartphone sensors. Sensors examined include the accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, pressure and light sensors. Each sensor is examined independently, to identify the potential contributions it can offer, before a fused approach, using all sensors is adopted. A total of 139 features are generated from these sensors, and used to train five machine learning algorithms, i.e. C4.5, CART, Naive Bayes, Multilayer Perceptrons, and Support Vector Machines. Ten-fold cross validation is used to validate these models, achieving classification results as high as 99%.
Haedt-Matt, Alissa A.; Keel, Pamela K. (2015): Affect Regulation and Purging: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study in Purging Disorder. In: J Abnorm Psychol. DOI: 10.1037/a0038815.
Research suggests that affect may play an important role in the propensity to purge among women with purging disorder (PD). However, prior work has been constrained to cross-sectional or laboratory designs, which impact temporal interpretations and ecological validity. This study examined negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) in triggering and maintaining purging in PD using ecological momentary assessment. Women with PD (N = 24) made multiple daily ratings of affect and behavior for 2 weeks. Multilevel models examined associations between affect and purging at different levels of analysis, including a novel analytic approach to address the specificity of changes in affect relative to purging behavior by comparing trajectories of change on purge versus nonpurge days. For trajectories of affect over time, NA increased before purging and decreased following purging on purge days; however, only the decrease in NA following purging was significantly different from the trajectory of NA on nonpurge days. Conversely, PA failed to increase before purging on purge days compared with a matched time-point on nonpurge days. These findings suggest unique roles of PA in triggering and NA in maintaining purging in PD and support models in which purging functions to regulate affect. For comparisons of ratings before and after purging, NA increased and PA decreased after purging, highlighting how different analytic strategies produce different findings requiring integration into affect regulation models. These data provide insight into why women with PD purge after consuming normal amounts of food, a crucial first step for developing effective interventions.
Hall, Amanda K.; Cole-Lewis, Heather; Bernhardt, Jay M. (2015): Mobile text messaging for health: a systematic review of reviews. In: Annu Rev Public Health 36, S. 393–415. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122855.
The aim of this systematic review of reviews is to identify mobile text-messaging interventions designed for health improvement and behavior change and to derive recommendations for practice. We have compiled and reviewed existing systematic research reviews and meta-analyses to organize and summarize the text-messaging intervention evidence base, identify best-practice recommendations based on findings from multiple reviews, and explore implications for future research. Our review found that the majority of published text-messaging interventions were effective when addressing diabetes self-management, weight loss, physical activity, smoking cessation, and medication adherence for antiretroviral therapy. However, we found limited evidence across the population of studies and reviews to inform recommended intervention characteristics. Although strong evidence supports the value of integrating text-messaging interventions into public health practice, additional research is needed to establish longer-term intervention effects, identify recommended intervention characteristics, and explore issues of cost-effectiveness.
Hartley, Samantha; Haddock, Gillian; Vasconcelos e Sa, Débora; Emsley, Richard; Barrowclough, Christine (2015): The influence of thought control on the experience of persecutory delusions and auditory hallucinations in daily life. In: Behaviour Research and Therapy 65, S. 1–4. DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2014.12.002.
Attempts to control or suppress thoughts are often unsuccessful and may even lead to an increase in the unwanted content. Intrusive thoughts and thought control are influential in the experience of psychosis, although recent findings have arisen from non-clinical samples and data tend to be retrospective in nature. The current study utilised repeated momentary assessments (experience sampling methodology) delivered as part of participants’ daily routine to examine the associations between thought control and the experience of persecutory delusions and auditory hallucinations. The findings revealed that thought control was related to the subsequent severity and distress in relation to psychotic symptoms. Moreover, most of these effects persisted over two subsequent monitoring timepoints, although their size was diminished. These findings add weight to models of psychosis that include a role for thought control, and also highlight opportunities for targeted momentary interventions. Future work might seek to elucidate which specific aspects of thought control are important, alongside the use of more multifaceted measures of psychotic experiences.
Heffner, Jaimee L.; Vilardaga, Roger; Mercer, Laina D.; Kientz, Julie A.; Bricker, Jonathan B. (2015): Feature-level analysis of a novel smartphone application for smoking cessation. In: The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 41 (1), S. 68–73. DOI: 10.3109/00952990.2014.977486.
Background: Currently, there are over 400 smoking cessation smartphone apps available, downloaded an estimated 780,000 times per month. No prior studies have examined how individuals engage with specific features of cessation apps and whether use of these features is associated with quitting. Objectives: Using data from a pilot trial of a novel smoking cessation app, we examined: (i) the 10 most-used app features, and (ii) prospective associations between feature usage and quitting. Methods: Participants (n = 76) were from the experimental arm of a randomized, controlled pilot trial of an app for smoking cessation called “SmartQuit,” which includes elements of both Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Utilization data were automatically tracked during the 8-week treatment phase. Thirty-day point prevalence smoking abstinence was assessed at 60-day follow-up. Results: The most-used features—quit plan, tracking, progress, and sharing—were mostly CBT. Only two of the 10 most-used features were prospectively associated with quitting: viewing the quit plan (p = 0.03) and tracking practice of letting urges pass (p = 0.03). Tracking ACT skill practice was used by fewer participants (n = 43) but was associated with cessation (p = 0.01). Conclusions: In this exploratory analysis without control for multiple comparisons, viewing a quit plan (CBT) as well as tracking practice of letting urges pass (ACT) were both appealing to app users and associated with successful quitting. Aside from these features, there was little overlap between a feature’s popularity and its prospective association with quitting. Tests of causal associations between feature usage and smoking cessation are now needed.
Hernaus, Dennis; Collip, Dina; Lataster, Johan; Viechtbauer, Wolfgang; Myin, Erik; Ceccarini, Jenny et al. (2015): Psychotic reactivity to daily life stress and the dopamine system: a study combining experience sampling and 18Ffallypride positron emission tomography. In: J Abnorm Psychol 124 (1), S. 27–37. DOI: 10.1037/abn0000010.
Stressful life events increase the risk for psychosis, and the subjective experience of stress related to daily life activities drives moment-to-moment variation in psychotic intensity. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies suggest that dopaminergic (DAergic) activity mediates the behavioral response to an experimental stressor. However, it is not known how alterations in this DAergic stress response relate to the subjective experience of stress in real life situations assessed in momentary assessment studies. This study combined [18F]fallypride PET with an Experience Sampling ambulatory assessment approach to examine the association between the prefrontal DAergic response to experimentally induced stress and real life psychotic reactivity to the subjective experience of stress in daily life. Healthy first-degree relatives of individuals with a psychotic disorder (N = 14) and healthy controls (N = 11) participated in (a) a psychosocial [18F]fallypride PET stress paradigm and (b) an experience sampling study, using a structured diary approach. Mixed multilevel random intercept models revealed that stress-induced [18F]fallypride displacement, indicative of DAergic activity, in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) was associated with psychotic reactivity to daily life stress in the entire sample. Lower levels of [18F]fallypride displacement to stress predicted increased psychotic reactivity to daily life stress. This study combined PET neuroimaging with real life behavioral assessments in the investigation of psychotic symptoms; we showed decreased [18F]fallypride displacement to stress in VMPFC to be associated with increased psychotic reactivity to daily life stress. The preliminary evidence in this study demonstrates that it is possible to acquire a grasp on how brain function is associated with contextualized experience, which has relevance for neuroimaging studies in general.
Hogenelst, Koen; Schoevers, Robert A.; Aan Het Rot, Marije (2015): Studying the neurobiology of human social interaction: Making the case for ecological validity. In: Soc Neurosci, S. 1–11. DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2014.994786.
With this commentary we make the case for an increased focus on the ecological validity of the measures used to assess aspects of human social functioning. Impairments in social functioning are seen in many types of psychopathology, negatively affecting the lives of psychiatric patients and those around them. Yet the neurobiology underlying abnormal social interaction remains unclear. As an example of human social neuroscience research with relevance to biological psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology, this commentary discusses published experimental studies involving manipulation of the human brain serotonin system that included assessments of social behavior. To date, these studies have mostly been laboratory-based and included computer tasks, observations by others, or single-administration self-report measures. Most laboratory measures used so far inform about the role of serotonin in aspects of social interaction, but the relevance for real-life interaction is often unclear. Few studies have used naturalistic assessments in real life. We suggest several laboratory methods with high ecological validity as well as ecological momentary assessment, which involves intensive repeated measures in naturalistic settings. In sum, this commentary intends to stimulate experimental research on the neurobiology of human social interaction as it occurs in real life.
Holloway, Ian W.; Dunlap, Shannon; Del Pino, Homero E; Hermanstyne, Keith; Pulsipher, Craig; Landovitz, Raphael J. (2014): Online Social Networking, Sexual Risk and Protective Behaviors: Considerations for Clinicians and Researchers. In: Curr Addict Rep 1 (3), S. 220–228. DOI: 10.1007/s40429-014-0029-4.
Online social networking refers to the use of internet-based technologies that facilitate connection and communication between users. These platforms may be accessed via computer or mobile device (e.g., tablet, smartphone); communication between users may include linking of profiles, posting of text, photo and video content, instant messaging and email. This review provides an overview of recent research on the relationship between online social networking and sexual risk and protective behaviors with a focus on use of social networking sites (SNS) among young people and populations at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). While findings are mixed, the widespread use of SNS for sexual communication and partner seeking presents opportunities for the delivery and evaluation of public health interventions. Results of SNS-based interventions to reduce sexual risk are synthesized in order to offer hands-on advice for clinicians and researchers interested in engaging patients and study participants via online social networking.
Huang, Jason L.; Chiaburu, Dan S.; Zhang, Xin-An; Li, Ning; Grandey, Alicia A. (2015): Rising to the Challenge: Deep Acting is More Beneficial When Tasks are Appraised as Challenging. In: J Appl Psychol. DOI: 10.1037/a0038976.
Cumulative research indicates that deep acting has a nonsignificant relationship with employee exhaustion, despite arguments that deep acting can be beneficial. To illuminate when deep acting leads to more positive employee outcomes, we draw on the resource conservation perspective to propose a within-individual model of deep acting that focuses on service employees’ daily fluctuation of emotional labor and emotional exhaustion. Specifically, we propose that the ongoing experience of felt challenge is a within-person boundary condition that moderates deep acting’s relationship with emotional exhaustion, and model emotional exhaustion as a mediating mechanism that subsequently predicts momentary job satisfaction and daily customer conflict handling. Using an experience sampling design, we collected data from 84 service employees over a 3-week period. Deep acting was less emotionally exhausting for service providers when they saw their tasks as more challenging. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion mediated the deep acting by felt challenge interaction effect on momentary job satisfaction and daily customer conflict handling. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the deep acting experience at work, while highlighting customer conflict handling as a key behavioral outcome of emotional labor.
Hulur, Gizem; Gerstorf, Denis (2015): Editorial: Subjective Perceptions of Memory Functioning in Old Age - Nature, Correlates, and Developmental Trajectories. In: Gerontology. DOI: 10.1159/000371757.
Subjective memory complaints are often used as diagnostic criteria for several neurocognitive disorders. Although a number of studies have examined subjective memory and its associations with memory functioning in adulthood and old age, it is still an open question whether subjective perceptions of one’s memory indicate actual memory functioning or whether they are rather derived from factors other than memory, such as depressive symptoms. The studies in this special section examine subjective perceptions of memory functioning and their associations with objectively measured memory performance in general and in clinical populations. The four articles adopt cross-sectional and longitudinal methodologies and offer key insights into the nature, correlates, and developmental trajectories of subjective memory. To begin with, the studies compiled in this special section demonstrate that changes in subjective memory perceptions are indeed associated with changes in memory performance [Zimprich and Kurtz, this issue, pp. 223-231], but the size of associations between levels of and changes in subjective memory and memory performance is in part modulated by personality characteristics and depressive symptoms [Hulur et al., this issue, pp. 232-240]. Second, the studies compiled here show that factors other than memory are also closely associated with memory perceptions, including functional health as well as domain-general and health-specific control beliefs [Luszcz et al., this issue, pp. 241-250]. Third, the study by Thompson et al. [this issue, pp. 251-257] shows that self- and informant-reports of retrospective and prospective memory difficulties are not associated with performance-based measures and does not sufficiently differentiate between healthy controls and patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. In our editorial, we put these findings in perspective and discuss implications for research and practice. To extend our knowledge, we conclude by outlining two key avenues for future research: (i) longitudinal multivariate studies of the construct space surrounding subjective memory and (ii) the viability of experience sampling studies with daily or hourly measurements to tackle some of the mechanisms underlying these associations. (c) 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.
Hurlburt, Russell T.; Heavey, Christopher L. (2015): Investigating pristine inner experience: Implications for experience sampling and questionnaires. In: Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal 31, S. 148–159. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.11.002.
We argue that inquiring about directly apprehended (“pristine”) inner experience requires four overlapping methodological characteristics: effectively limiting investigation to specific, clearly identified moments; effectively limiting investigation to pristine experience; bracketing presuppositions; and iteratively acquiring skills. We compare and contrast Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES), other (non-DES) experience sampling methods, and questionnaires and conclude that whereas non-DES sampling methods and questionnaires appear to inquire about pristine inner experience, they fall short on all four methodological counts and therefore might be better understood as investigating an ill-defined mixture of presuppositions, judgments about experience, and pristine experience itself. Typical experience sampling studies and questionnaires can be valid and useful, but their validity and utility does not (or at least does not necessarily) arise from their phenomenological fidelity.
Juarascio, Adrienne S.; Manasse, Stephanie M.; Goldstein, Stephanie P.; Forman, Evan M.; Butryn, Meghan L. (2015): Review of smartphone applications for the treatment of eating disorders. In: European Eating Disorders Review 23 (1), S. 1–11. DOI: 10.1002/erv.2327.
mHealth tools may be a feasible modality for delivering evidence‐based treatments and principles (EBPs), and may enhance treatment for eating disorders (EDs). However, research on the efficacy of mHealth tools for EDs and the extent to which they include EBPs is lacking. The current study sought to (i) review existing apps for EDs, (ii) determine the extent to which available treatment apps utilize EBPs, and (iii) assess the degree to which existing smartphone apps utilize recent advances in smartphone technology. Overall, existing ED intervention apps contained minimal EBPs and failed to incorporate smartphone capabilities. For smartphone apps to be a feasible and effective ED treatment modality, it may be useful for creators to begin taking utilizing the abilities that set smartphones apart from in‐person treatment while incorporating EBPs. Before mHealth tools are incorporated into treatments for EDs, it is necessary that the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy be evaluated.
Juth, Vanessa; Dickerson, Sally S.; Zoccola, Peggy M.; Lam, Suman (2015): Understanding the utility of emotional approach coping: Evidence from a laboratory stressor and daily life. In: Anxiety, Stress & Coping: An International Journal 28 (1), S. 50–70. DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2014.921912.
Background: Dispositional emotional approach coping (EAC) marks an adaptive tendency to process and express emotions. EAC’s association with cognitions, affect, and intra- and interindividual characteristics that may account for its utility was examined in response to an acute stressor and in daily life. Design: This study included a laboratory stress task and ecological momentary assessment. Methods: Healthy undergraduate students (n = 124; mean age: 20; women: 56%) completed a laboratory component (baseline survey, speech stress task, pre- and posttask measures) and five subsequent days of surveys via palm pilot (six surveys/day). Results: Controlling for sex, neuroticism, and social support, greater EAC was associated with more positive cognitive appraisals, personal resources, and positive affect and less-negative affect during the lab stressor, and with more perceived control and positive affect in daily life. Significant EAC × sex interactions were found for poststressor affect: men with high EAC reported more positive affect and women with high EAC reported less negative affect. Conclusions: Findings provide support that EAC’s utility may be independent of intra- and interindividual characteristics, and that men and women may benefit from EAC in different ways in regards to affect. The proclivity to use EAC may come with a resiliency that protects against stress and promotes general well-being.
Keller, Melanie M.; Chang, Mei-Lin; Becker, Eva S.; Goetz, Thomas; Frenzel, Anne C. (2014): Teachers’ emotional experiences and exhaustion as predictors of emotional labor in the classroom: an experience sampling study. In: Front Psychol 5, S. 1442. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01442.
Emotional exhaustion (EE) is the core component in the study of teacher burnout, with significant impact on teachers’ professional lives. Yet, its relation to teachers’ emotional experiences and emotional labor (EL) during instruction remains unclear. Thirty-nine German secondary teachers were surveyed about their EE (trait), and via the experience sampling method on their momentary (state; N = 794) emotional experiences (enjoyment, anxiety, anger) and momentary EL (suppression, faking). Teachers reported that in 99 and 39% of all lessons, they experienced enjoyment and anger, respectively, whereas they experienced anxiety less frequently. Teachers reported suppressing or faking their emotions during roughly a third of all lessons. Furthermore, EE was reflected in teachers’ decreased experiences of enjoyment and increased experiences of anger. On an intra-individual level, all three emotions predict EL, whereas on an inter-individual level, only anger evokes EL. Explained variances in EL (within: 39%, between: 67%) stress the relevance of emotions in teaching and within the context of teacher burnout. Beyond implying the importance of reducing anger, our findings suggest the potential of enjoyment lessening EL and thereby reducing teacher burnout.
Kerstner, Tobias; Witthöft, Michael; Mier, Daniela; Diener, Carsten; Rist, Fred; Bailer, Josef (2015): A Diary-Based Modification of Symptom Attributions in Pathological Health Anxiety: Effects on Symptom Report and Cognitive Biases. In: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/a0039056.
Objective: To examine whether a 2-week attribution modification training (AMT) changes symptom severity, emotional evaluation of health-threatening stimuli, and cognitive biases in pathological health anxiety. Method: We randomized 85 patients with pathological health anxiety into an electronic diary-based AMT group (AMTG; n = 42) and a control group without AMT (CG; n = 43). Self-report symptom measures, emotional evaluation, attentional bias, and memory bias toward symptom and illness words were assessed with an emotional Stroop task, a recognition task, and an emotional rating task for valence and arousal. Results: After the 2-week period, the AMTG compared with the CG reported lower symptoms of pathological health anxiety, F(1, 82) = 10.94, p < .01, ηp2 = .12, rated symptom, F(1, 82) = 5.56, p = .02, ηp2 = .06, and illness words, F(1, 82) = 4.13, p = .045, ηp2 = .05, as less arousing, and revealed a smaller memory response bias toward symptom words in the recognition task F(1, 82) = 12.32, p < .01, ηp2 = .13. However, no specific AMT effect was observed for the attentional bias. Conclusion: The results support the efficacy of a comparatively short cognitive intervention in pathological health anxiety as a possible add-on intervention to existing treatment approaches to reduce symptom severity, as well as abnormalities in health-related emotional evaluation and memory processes.
Kikuchi, Hiroe; Yoshiuchi, Kazuhiro; Inada, Shuji; Ando, Tetsuya; Yamamoto, Yoshiharu (2015): Development of an ecological momentary assessment scale for appetite. In: Biopsychosoc Med 9 (1), S. 2. DOI: 10.1186/s13030-014-0029-6.
BACKGROUND: An understanding of eating behaviors is an important element of health education and treatment in clinical populations. To understand the biopsychosocial profile of eating behaviors in an ecologically valid way, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is appropriate because its use is able to overcome the recall bias in patient-reported outcomes (PROs). As appetite is a key PRO associated with eating behaviors, this study was done to develop an EMA scale to evaluate the within-individual variation of momentary appetite and uses this scale to discuss the relationships between appetite and various psychological factors. METHODS: Twenty healthy participants (age 23.6 +/- 4.2 years old) wore a watch-type computer for a week. Several times a day, including just before and after meals, they recorded their momentary psychological stress, mood states, and ten items related to appetite. In addition, they recorded everything they ate and drank into a personal digital assistant (PDA)-based food diary. Multilevel factor analysis was used to investigate the factor structure of the scale, and the reliability and validity of the scale were also explored. RESULTS: Multilevel factor analyses found two factors at the within-individual level (hunger/fullness and cravings) and one factor at the between-individual level. Medians for the individually calculated Cronbach’s alphas were 0.89 for hunger/fullness, 0.71 for cravings, and 0.86 for total appetite (the sum of all items). Hunger/fullness, cravings, and total appetite all decreased significantly after meals compared with those before meals, and hunger/fullness, cravings, and total appetite before meals were positively associated with energy intake. There were significant negative associations between both hunger/fullness and total appetite and anxiety and depression as well as between cravings, and depression, anxiety and stress. CONCLUSIONS: The within-individual reliability of the EMA scale to assess momentary appetite was confirmed in most subjects and it was also validated as a useful tool to understand eating behaviors in daily settings. Further refinement of the scale is necessary and further investigations need to be conducted, particularly on clinical populations.
Kim, Jeonghee; Park, Hangue; Bruce, Joy; Rowles, Diane; Holbrook, Jaimee; Nardone, Beatrice et al. (2015): Assessment of the Tongue-Drive System using a Computer, a Smartphone, and a Powered-Wheelchair by People With Tetraplegia. In: IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. DOI: 10.1109/TNSRE.2015.2405072.
Tongue-Drive System (TDS) is a wireless and wearable assistive technology that enables people with severe disabilities to control their computers, wheelchairs, and smartphones using voluntary tongue motion. To evaluate the efficacy of the TDS, several experiments were conducted, in which the performance of 9 able-bodied (AB) participants using a mouse, a keypad, and the TDS, as well as a cohort of 11 participants with tetraplegia (TP) using the TDS, were observed and compared. Experiments included the Fitts’ law tapping, wheelchair driving, phone-dialing, and weight-shifting tasks over five to six consecutive sessions. All participants received a tongue piercing, wore a magnetic tongue stud, and completed the trials as evaluable participants. Although AB participants were already familiar with the keypad, throughputs of their tapping tasks using the keypad were only 1.4 times better than those using the TDS. The completion times of wheelchair driving task using the TDS for AB and TP participants were between 157 s and 180 s with three different control strategies. Participants with TP completed phone-dialing and weight-shifting tasks in 81.9 s and 71.5 s, respectively, using tongue motions. Results showed statistically significant improvement or trending to improvement in performance status over the sessions. Most of the learning occurred between the first and second sessions, but trends did suggest that more practice would lead to increased improvement in performance using the TDS.
Kobayashi, Tetsuro; Boase, Jeffrey; Suzuki, Tsutomu; Suzuki, Takahisa (2015): Emerging from the cocoon? Revisiting the tele‐cocooning hypothesis in the smartphone era. In: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. DOI: 10.1111/jcc4.12116.
Abstract The tele‐cocooning hypothesis posits that mobile communication increases interaction with communication rich ties, while simultaneously weakening interaction with communication weak ties. In this study, we demonstrate how smartphones can be used to mitigate tele‐cocooning behavior by stimulating interaction with communication weak ties. Using a smartphone application to collect non‐identifying mobile communication log data, we conducted a field experiment with 193 Japanese participants. The treatment consisted of onscreen reminders designed to stimulate interaction with communication weak ties. The results indicate that the treatment promoted the activation of communication weak ties and the acquisition of information through those ties, suggesting that smartphones can be utilized to promote access to social capital.
Könen, Tanja; Dirk, Judith; Schmiedek, Florian (2015): Cognitive benefits of last night’s sleep: Daily variations in children’s sleep behavior are related to working memory fluctuations. In: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 56 (2), S. 171–182. DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12296.
Background Recent studies have suggested substantial fluctuations of cognitive performance in adults both across and within days, but very little is known about such fluctuations in children. Children’s sleep behavior might have an important influence on their daily cognitive resources, but so far this has not been investigated in terms of naturally occurring within‐person variations in children’s everyday lives. Methods In an ambulatory assessment study, 110 elementary school children (8–11 years old) completed sleep items and working memory tasks on smartphones several times per day in school and at home for 4 weeks. Parents provided general information about the children and their sleep habits. Results We identified substantial fluctuations in the children’s daily cognitive performance, self‐reported nightly sleep quality, time in bed, and daytime tiredness. All three facets were predictive of performance fluctuations in children’s school and daily life. Sleep quality and time in bed were predictive of performance in the morning, and afternoon performance was related to current tiredness. The children with a lower average performance level showed a higher within‐person coupling between morning performance and sleep quality. Conclusions Our findings contribute important insights regarding a potential source of performance fluctuations in children. The effect of varying cognitive resources should be investigated further because it might impact children’s daily social, emotional, and learning‐related functioning. Theories about children’s cognitive and educational development should consider fluctuations on micro‐longitudinal scales (e.g., day‐to‐day) to identify possible mechanisms behind long‐term changes.
Kothari, Dhwani J.; Davis, Mary C.; Yeung, Ellen W.; Tennen, Howard A. (2015): Positive affect and pain: mediators of the within-day relation linking sleep quality to activity interference in fibromyalgia. In: Pain 156 (3), S. 540–546. DOI: 10.1097/01.j.pain.0000460324.18138.0a.
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain condition often resulting in functional impairments. Nonrestorative sleep is a prominent symptom of FM that is related to disability, but the day-to-day mechanisms relating the prior night’s sleep quality to next-day reports of disability have not been examined. This study examined the within-day relations among early-morning reports of sleep quality last night, late-morning reports of pain and positive and negative affect, and end-of-day reports of activity interference. Specifically, we tested whether pain, positive affect, and negative affect mediated the association between sleep quality and subsequent activity interference. Data were drawn from electronic diary reports collected from 220 patients with FM for 21 consecutive days. The direct and mediated effects at the within-person level were estimated with multilevel structural equation modeling. Results showed that pain and positive affect mediated the relation between sleep quality and activity interference. Early-morning reports of poor sleep quality last night predicted elevated levels of pain and lower levels of positive affect at late-morning, which, in turn, predicted elevated end-of-day activity interference. Of note, positive affect was a stronger mediator than pain and negative affect was not a significant mediator. In summary, the findings identify 2 parallel mechanisms, pain and positive affect, through which the prior night’s sleep quality predicts disability the next day in patients with FM. Furthermore, results highlight the potential utility of boosting positive affect after a poor night’s sleep as one means of preserving daily function in FM.
Kowalczyk, William J.; Phillips, Karran A.; Jobes, Michelle L.; Kennedy, Ashley P.; Ghitza, Udi E.; Agage, Daniel A. et al. (2015): Clonidine Maintenance Prolongs Opioid Abstinence and Decouples Stress From Craving in Daily Life: A Randomized Controlled Trial With Ecological Momentary Assessment. In: Am J Psychiatry, S. appiajp201414081014. DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.14081014.
OBJECTIVE: The authors tested whether clonidine blocks stress-induced seeking of heroin and cocaine. The study was also intended to confirm translational findings from a rat model of drug relapse by using ecological momentary assessment of patients’ stress to test hypotheses about clonidine’s behavioral mechanism of action. METHOD: The authors conducted a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial with 208 opioid-dependent patients at an outpatient buprenorphine clinic. The 118 participants (57%) who maintained abstinence during weeks 5-6 were continued on buprenorphine and randomly assigned to receive clonidine (N=61) or placebo (N=57) for 14 weeks. Urine was tested thrice weekly. Lapse was defined as any opioid-positive or missed urine test, and relapse as two or more consecutive lapses. Time to lapse and relapse were examined with Cox regressions; longest period of abstinence was examined with a t test, and ecological momentary assessment data were examined with generalized linear mixed models. RESULTS: In an intent-to-treat analysis, clonidine produced the longest duration (in consecutive days) of abstinence from opioids during the intervention phase (34.8 days [SD=3.7] compared with 25.5 days [SD=2.7]; Cohen’s d=0.38). There was no group difference in time to relapse, but the clonidine group took longer to lapse (hazard ratio=0.67, 95% CI=0.45-1.00). Ecological momentary assessment showed that daily-life stress was partly decoupled from opioid craving in the clonidine group, supporting the authors’ hypothesized mechanism for clonidine’s benefits. CONCLUSIONS: Clonidine, a readily available medication, is useful in opioid dependence not just for reduction of withdrawal signs, but also as an adjunctive maintenance treatment that increases duration of abstinence. Even in the absence of physical withdrawal, it decouples stress from craving in everyday life.
Krause, Amanda E.; North, Adrian C.; Hewitt, Lauren Y. (2015): Music-listening in everyday life: Devices and choice. In: Psychology of Music 43 (2), S. 155–170. DOI: 10.1177/0305735613496860.
Utilizing the Experience Sampling Method, this research investigated how individuals encounter music in everyday life. Responding to two text messages sent at random times between 8:00 and 23:00 daily for one week, 177 participants completed self-reports online regarding their experience with any music heard within a two-hour period prior to receipt of the message. Overall, the radio, mobile MP3 players, and computers featured prominently. Detailed analyses revealed significant patterns in device usage based on time of day; ratings of the music in terms of choice, liking, arousal, and attention; mood; and the perceived consequences of the music. While feeling lethargic associated with recorded music broadcasted in public, in contrast personal music collections promoted contentment. Similarly, devices allowing for personal input were met with positive consequences, like motivation. The current findings imply that the greater control that technology affords leads to complex patterns of everyday music usage, and that listeners are active consumers rather than passive listeners.
Kulich, Karoly; Keininger, Dorothy L.; Tiplady, Brian; Banerji, Donald (2015): Symptoms and impact of COPD assessed by an electronic diary in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD: psychometric results from the SHINE study. In: Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis 10, S. 79–94. DOI: 10.2147/COPD.S73092.
BACKGROUND: Symptoms, particularly dyspnea, and activity limitation, have an impact on the health status and the ability to function normally in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: To develop an electronic patient diary (eDiary), qualitative patient interviews were conducted from 2009 to 2010 to identify relevant symptoms and degree of bother due to symptoms. The eDiary was completed by a subset of 209 patients with moderate-to-severe COPD in the 26-week QVA149 SHINE study. Two morning assessments (since awakening and since the last assessment) and one evening assessment were made each day. Assessments covered five symptoms (“shortness of breath,” “phlegm/mucus,” “chest tightness,” “wheezing,” and “coughing”) and two impact items (“bothered by COPD” and “difficulty with activities”) and were scored on a 10-point numeric scale. RESULTS: Patient compliance with the eDiary was 90.4% at baseline and 81.3% at week 26. Correlations between shortness of breath and impact items were >0.95. Regression analysis showed that shortness of breath was a highly significant (P<0.0001) predictor of impact items. Exploratory factor analysis gave a single factor comprising all eDiary items, including both symptoms and impact items. Shortness of breath, the total score (including five symptoms and two impact items), and the five-item symptom score from the eDiary performed well, with good consistency and reliability. The eDiary showed good sensitivity to change, with a 0.6 points reduction in the symptoms scores (on a 0-10 point scale) representing a meaningful change. CONCLUSION: The eDiary was found to be valid, reliable, and responsive. The high correlations obtained between “shortness of breath” and the ratings of “bother” and “difficulty with activities” confirmed the relevance of this symptom in patients with COPD. Future studies will be required to explore further psychometric properties and their ability to differentiate between COPD treatments.
Lambert, Amber D.; Miller, Angie L. (2015): Living with smartphones: Does completion device affect survey responses? In: Research in Higher Education 56 (2), S. 166–177. DOI: 10.1007/s11162-014-9354-7.
With the growing reliance on tablets and smartphones for internet access, understanding the effects of completion device on online survey responses becomes increasing important. This study uses data from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, a multi-institution online alumni survey designed to obtain knowledge of arts education, to explore the effects of what type of device (PC, Mac, tablet, or smartphone) a respondent uses has on his/her responses. Differences by device type in the characteristics of survey respondents, survey completion, time spent responding, willingness to answer complex and open-ended questions, and lengths of open-ended responses are discussed.
Law, Mary Kate; Fleeson, William; Arnold, Elizabeth Mayfield; Furr, R. Michael (2015): Using Negative Emotions to Trace the Experience of Borderline Personality Pathology: Interconnected Relationships Revealed in an Experience Sampling Study. In: J Pers Disord, S. 1–19. DOI: 10.1521/pedi_2015_29_180.
While emotional difficulties are highly implicated in borderline personality disorder (BPD), the dynamic relationships between emotions and BPD symptoms that occur in everyday life are unknown. The current paper examined the function of negative emotions as they relate to BPD symptoms in real time. Experience sampling methodology with 281 participants measured negative emotions and borderline symptoms, expressed as a spectrum of experiences, five times daily for two weeks. Overall, having a BDP diagnosis was associated with experiencing more negative emotions. Multilevel modeling supported positive concurrent relationships between negative emotions and BPD symptoms. Lagged models showed that even after 3 hours negative emotions and several symptoms continued to influence each other. Therefore, results indicated that negative emotions and BPD symptoms are intricately related; some evidenced long-lasting relationships. This research supports emotion-symptom contingencies within BPD and provides insight regarding the reactivity and functionality of negative emotions in borderline pathology.
Layton, Aimee M.; Whitworth, James; Peacock, James; Bartels, Matthew N.; Jellen, Patricia A.; Thomashow, Byron M. (2014): Feasibility and Acceptability of Utilizing a Smartphone Based Application to Monitor Outpatient Discharge Instruction Compliance in Cardiac Disease Patients around Discharge from Hospitalization. In: Int J Telemed Appl 2014, S. 415868. DOI: 10.1155/2014/415868.
The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and acceptability of utilizing a smartphone based application to monitor compliance in patients with cardiac disease around discharge. For 60 days after discharge, patients’ medication compliance, physical activity, follow-up care, symptoms, and reading of education material were monitored daily with the application. 16 patients were enrolled in the study (12 males, 4 females, age 55 +/- 18 years) during their hospital stay. Five participants were rehospitalized during the study and did not use the application once discharged. Seven participants completed 1-30 days and four patients completed >31 days. For those 11 patients, medication reminders were utilized 37% (1-30-day group) and 53% (>31-day group) of the time, education material was read 44% (1-30) and 53% (>31) of the time, and physical activity was reported 25% (1-30) and 42% (>31) of the time. Findings demonstrated that patients with stable health utilized the application, even if only minimally. Patients with decreased breath sounds by physical exam and who reported their health as fair to poor on the day of discharge were less likely to utilize the application. Acceptability of the application to report health status varied among the stable patients.
Leehr, Elisabeth J.; Krohmer, Kerstin; Schag, Kathrin; Dresler, Thomas; Zipfel, Stephan; Giel, Katrin E. (2015): Emotion regulation model in binge eating disorder and obesity—A systematic review. In: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 49, S. 125–134. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.12.008.
Deficits in emotion regulation processes are a common and widely used explanation for the development and maintenance of binge eating disorder (BED). It is assumed that BED patients—as they have difficulty regulating their negative emotions—use binge eating to cope with these emotions and to find relief. However, the number of experimental studies investigating this assumption is scarce and the differentiation of obese individuals with and without BED regarding the emotion regulation model is not verified. We reviewed literature for experimental studies investigating the emotion regulation model in obese patients (OB) with and without BED. Our search resulted in 18 experimental studies examining the triggering effect of negative emotions for binge eating or its effects on subsequent relief. We found evidence indicating that negative emotion serves as a trigger for binge eating in the BED group unlike the obese group without BED. Considering the small number of studies, we found evidence for a (short-term) improvement of mood through food intake, irrespective of group.
Liao, Yue; Intille, Stephen S.; Dunton, Genevieve F. (2015): Using Ecological Momentary Assessment to understand where and with whom adults’ physical and sedentary activity occur. In: International Journal of Behavioral Medicine 22 (1), S. 51–61. DOI: 10.1007/s12529-014-9400-z.
Purpose: This study used Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), a real-time self-report strategy, to describe the physical and social contexts of adults’ physical activity and sedentary activity during their everyday lives and to determine whether these patterns and relationships differ for men and women. Methods: Data from 114 adults were collected through mobile phones across 4 days. Eight electronic EMA surveys were randomly prompted each day asking about current activities (e.g., physical or sedentary activity), physical and social contexts, and perceived outdoor environmental features (e.g., greenness/vegetation, safety, and traffic). All participants also wore accelerometers during this period to objectively measure moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary activity. Results: Home was the most common physical context for EMA-reported physical and sedentary activity. Most of these activities occurred when participants were alone. When alone, the most commonly EMA-reported physical activity and sedentary activity was walking and reading/using computer, respectively. When in outdoor home locations (e.g., yard and driveway) women demonstrated higher levels of MVPA, whereas men demonstrated higher levels of MVPA when in outdoor park settings (ps < .05). Men but not women demonstrated higher levels of MVPA in settings with a greater degree of perceived greenness and vegetation (p < .05). Conclusions: The current study shows how EMA via mobile phones and accelerometers can be combined to offer an innovative approach to assess the contexts of adults’ daily physical and sedentary activity. Future studies could consider utilizing this method in more representative samples to gather context-specific information to inform the development of physical activity interventions.
Linas, Beth S.; Latkin, Carl; Westergaard, Ryan P.; Chang, Larry W.; Bollinger, Robert C.; Genz, Andrew; Kirk, Gregory D. (2015): Capturing illicit drug use where and when it happens: An ecological momentary assessment of the social, physical and activity environment of using versus craving illicit drugs. In: Addiction 110 (2), S. 315–325. DOI: 10.1111/add.12768.
Aims: To understand the environmental and contextual influences of illicit cocaine and heroin use and craving using mobile health (mHealth) methods. Design: Interactive mHealth methods of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) were utilized in the Exposure Assessment in Current Time (EXACT) study to assess drug use and craving among urban drug users in real time. Participants were provided with mobile devices and asked to self‐report every time they either craved (without using) or used heroin or cocaine for 30 days from November 2008 through May 2013. Setting: Baltimore, MD, USA. Participants: A total of 109 participants from the AIDS Linked to the IntraVenous Experience (ALIVE) study. Measurements: For each drug use or craving event, participants answered questions concerning their drug use, current mood and their social, physical and activity environments. Odds ratios (OR) of drug use versus craving were obtained from logistic regression models with generalized estimating equations of all reported events. Findings: Participants were a median of 48.5 years old, 90% African American, 52% male and 59% HIV‐infected. Participants were significantly more likely to report use rather than craving drugs if they were with someone who was using drugs [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.13, 1.86), in an abandoned space (aOR = 6.65, 95% CI = 1.78, 24.84) or walking/wandering (aOR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.11, 2.54). Craving drugs was associated with being with a child (aOR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.12, 0.59), eating (aOR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.34, 0.85) or being at the doctor's office (aOR = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.12, 0.80). Conclusions: There are distinct drug using and craving environments among urban drug users, which may provide a framework for developing real‐time context‐sensitive interventions.
Macias, Cathaleene; Panch, Trishan; Hicks, Yale M.; Scolnick, Jason S.; Weene, David Lyle; Ongur, Dost; Cohen, Bruce M. (2015): Using Smartphone Apps to Promote Psychiatric and Physical Well-Being. In: Psychiatr Q. DOI: 10.1007/s11126-015-9337-7.
This pilot study tested the acceptability and usability of a prototype app designed to promote the physical well-being of adults with psychiatric disorders. The application under evaluation, WellWave, promoted walking as a physical exercise, and offered a variety of supportive non-physical activities, including confidential text-messaging with peer staff, and a digital library of readings and videos on recovery from psychiatric illness. Study participants engaged strongly in the app throughout the 4-week study, showing a 94 % mean daily usage rate, and a 73 % mean response rate across all electronic messages and prompts, which approximates the gold standard of 75 % for momentary ecological assessment studies. Seven of the ten study participants averaged two or more walks per week, beginning with 5-min walks and ending with walks lasting 20 min or longer. This responsiveness to the walking prompts, and the overall high rate of engagement in other app features, suggest that adults with psychiatric conditions would welcome and benefit from similar smartphone interventions that promote healthy behaviours in life domains other than exercise. Pilot study results also suggest that smartphone applications can be useful as research tools in the development and testing of theories and practical strategies for encouraging healthy lifestyles. Participants were prompted periodically to rate their own health quality, perceived control over their health, and stage-of-change in adopting a walking routine, and these electronic self-ratings showed acceptable concurrent and discriminant validity, with all participants reporting moderate to high motivation to exercise by the end of the study.
Maes, Iris H L; Delespaul, Philippe A E G; Peters, Madelon L.; White, Mathew P.; van Horn, Yvette; Schruers, Koen et al. (2015): Measuring health-related quality of life by experiences: the experience sampling method. In: Value Health 18 (1), S. 44–51. DOI: 10.1016/j.jval.2014.10.003.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the potential value of obtaining momentary, instead of retrospective, accounts of the description and valuation of a person's own health-related quality of life (HRQOL). METHODS: Momentary HRQOL was examined with the experience sampling method (ESM) in 139 participants from four different samples. The ESM consists of a so-called beep questionnaire that was administered 10 times a day by an electronic device. Feasibility was determined by assessing willingness to participate in the study and by analyzing the percentage of dropouts and the number of completed beep questionnaires. Multilevel analysis was used to investigate the relation between momentary HRQOL and momentary feelings and symptoms. The relation between momentary outcomes and the EuroQol visual analogue scale was investigated with a multiple regression model. RESULTS: The overall participation rate was low, but there were no dropouts and the number of completed beeps was comparable to that in other studies. Multilevel analysis showed that feelings and symptoms were significant predictors of momentary HRQOL. The strength of these relations differed among three patient groups and a population-based sample. The EuroQol visual analogue scale was not predicted by momentary feelings and symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: We can conclude that the use of the ESM to measure accounts of the momentary experience of health in different populations is feasible. Retrospective measures may provide a biased account of the impact of health problems in the daily lives of people who are affected. Moreover, the bias may be different in different conditions.
Matsumura, Kenta; Rolfe, Peter; Yamakoshi, Takehiro (2015): iPhysioMeter: a smartphone photoplethysmograph for measuring various physiological indices. In: Methods Mol Biol 1256, S. 305–326. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2172-0_21.
iPhysioMeter is a new smartphone application ("App") for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch that allows photoplethysmography (PPG) to be implemented without the need for any additional devices. The resulting signal, the photoplethysmogram, allows the calculation of basic but valuable and frequently used physiological indices such as heart rate (HR) and pulse volume (PV). The design of iPhysioMeter has very much been influenced by a consideration of usability, as is immediately evident from ones first experience with it. However, its apparent simplicity in use should not disguise the need for correct operation, which otherwise might lead to collection of invalid or inaccurate data. There are several unexpected pitfalls that might not only produce inaccurate values, but, under some circumstances, could also damage the device or present a hazard to the user or subject. We therefore describe here, firstly, the core technology that makes it possible to perform PPG and to calculate HR and normalized PV (NPV) from the photoplethysmogram using only a smartphone, secondly, the correct and optimum methods and procedures for using iPhysioMeter that will help to ensure safety and the derivation of valid data under real operational conditions. We hope that these descriptions will help facilitate any activities related to physiological measurement when using only a smartphone.
McCall, W. Vaughn (2015): A rest-activity biomarker to predict response to SSRIs in major depressive disorder. In: J Psychiatr Res. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.02.023.
Most adults with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) will not experience a remission with the first antidepressant trial. No practical biomarkers presently exist to predict responsiveness to antidepressants. Herein we report pilot data for a rest-activity biomarker of antidepressant response. Fifty-eight medication-free adults with MDD underwent a week-long collection of actigraphic data before beginning a 9 week open label trial of fluoxetine, coupled with blinded randomized assignment to eszopiclone/placebo. Depression severity was repeatedly measured with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD). Baseline actigraphic data was analyzed with functional data analysis to create smoothed 24-h curves of activity. The time of the lowest point of activity (the bathyphase) was calculated for each patient, as well the mean difference between bedtime and the bathyphase (BBD). At the end of treatment, patients were characterized as treatment responders (50% reduction in HRSD) or non-responders, and receiver operating curves were calculated to find the optimal cut point of the BBD for prediction of treatment response. The best cut point for BBD was at 260.2 min, resulting in an effect size of 1.45, and with a positive predictive value of 0.75 and a negative predictive value of 0.88. We conclude that actigraphically-determined measures of rest-activity patterns show promise as potential biomarker predictors of antidepressant response. However, this conclusion is based upon a small number of patients who received only one choice of antidepressant, for a single trial. Replication with a larger sample is needed.
Meltzer, Lisa J.; Walsh, Colleen M.; Peightal, Ashley A. (2015): Comparison of actigraphy immobility rules with polysomnographic sleep onset latency in children and adolescents. In: Sleep Breath. DOI: 10.1007/s11325-015-1138-6.
PURPOSE: While actigraphy has gained popularity in pediatric sleep research, questions remain about the validity of actigraphy as an estimate of sleep-wake patterns. In particular, there is little consistency in the field in terms of scoring rules used to determine sleep onset latency. The purpose of this study was to evaluate different criteria of immobility as a measure of sleep onset latency in children and adolescents. METHODS: Ninety-five youth (ages 3-17 years, 46 % male) wore both the Ambulatory Monitoring Inc. Motionlogger Sleep Watch (AMI) and the Philips Respironics Mini-Mitter Actiwatch-2 (PRMM) during overnight polysomnography in a pediatric sleep lab. We examined different sleep onset latency scoring rules (3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 min of immobility) using different algorithms (Sadeh and Cole-Kripke) and sensitivity settings (low, medium, high) for the devices. Comparisons were also made across age groups (preschoolers, school-aged, adolescents) and sleep disordered breathing status (no obstructive sleep apnea [OSA], mild OSA, clinically significant OSA). RESULTS: For the AMI device, shorter scoring rules performed best for children and longer scoring rules were better for adolescents, with shorter scoring rules best across sleep disordered breathing groups. For the PRMM device, medium to longer scoring rules performed best across age and sleep disordered breathing groups. CONCLUSIONS: Researchers are encouraged to determine the scoring rule that best fits their population of interest. Future studies are needed with larger samples of children and adolescents to further validate actigraphic immobility as a proxy for sleep onset latency.
Mimura, Koki; Kishino, Hirohisa; Karino, Genta; Nitta, Etsuko; Senoo, Aya; Ikegami, Kentaro et al. (2015): Potential of a smartphone as a stress-free sensor of daily human behaviour. In: Behavioural Brain Research 276, S. 181–189. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.06.007.
Behaviour is one of the most powerful objective signals that connotes psychological functions regulated by neuronal network systems. This study searched for simple behaviours using smartphone sensors with three axes for measuring acceleration, angular speed and direction. We used quantitative analytic methodology of pattern recognition for work contexts, individual workers and seasonal effects in our own longitudinally recorded data. Our 13 laboratory members were involved in the care of common marmosets and domestic chicks, which lived in separate rooms. They attached a smartphone to their front waist-belts during feeding and cleaning in five care tasks. Behavioural characteristics such as speed, acceleration and azimuth, pitch, and roll angles were monitored. Afterwards, participants noted subjective scores of warmth sensation and work efficiency. The multivariate time series behavioral data were characterized by the subjective scores and environmental factors such as room temperature, season, and humidity, using the linear mixed model. In contrast to high-precision but stress-inducing sensors, the mobile sensors measuring daily behaviours allowed us to quantify the effects of the psychological states and environmental factors on the behavioural traits.
Minami, Haruka; Tran, Lisa T.; McCarthy, Danielle E. (2015): Using ecological measures of smoking trigger exposure to predict smoking cessation milestones. In: Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 29 (1), S. 122–128. DOI: 10.1037/adb0000017.
This study used ecological momentary assessment data from adult daily smokers attempting to quit smoking to assess relations between exposure to contextual risk factors and cessation failure, latency to a first smoking lapse, or progression from lapse to relapse (smoking 7 days in a row). Participants were adult, daily smokers enrolled in a randomized controlled clinical trial of bupropion SR and individual counseling who were followed to 1 year postquit. Participants reported exposure to high-risk contexts and behaviors, including being where cigarettes were available or smoking was permitted, being around others smoking in prospective, real-time assessment for 2 weeks pre- and 4 weeks postquit. Results showed that greater exposure to contextual risk factors during the prequit did not predict cessation failure. However, Cox regression survival analyses revealed that spending a greater proportion of time where cigarettes were easily available following at least 1 day of abstinence predicted shorter latency to a first lapse, even after controlling for baseline risk factors such as gender, nicotine dependence, depressive symptoms, and living with a smoker. Greater cigarette availability following a lapse was not associated with progression from lapse to relapse with or without baseline risk factors in the model. This suggests that postquit environmental risk factors, such as cigarette availability, increase lapse risk, and stable risk factors, such as living with smokers and higher baseline carbon monoxide level or depressive symptoms, remain potent predictors of progression to relapse. Real-time contextual risk assessments postquit predict lapse above and beyond stable, baseline risk factors.
Mundi, Manpreet S.; Lorentz, Paul A.; Grothe, Karen; Kellogg, Todd A.; Collazo-Clavell, Maria L. (2015): Feasibility of Smartphone-Based Education Modules and Ecological Momentary Assessment/Intervention in Pre-bariatric Surgery Patients. In: Obes Surg. DOI: 10.1007/s11695-015-1617-7.
BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery is the most effective means of long-term weight loss. Knowledge gaps and lack of engagement in pre-operative patients can result in suboptimal outcome after surgery. Mobile technology, utilizing ecological momentary assessment (EMA)/intervention (EMI), has shown tremendous promise in changing behaviors. The primary objective of the study is to assess feasibility of using smartphone app with EMA/EMI functionality to prepare patients for bariatric surgery. METHODS: Subjects seeking primary bariatric surgery were provided a smartphone app containing video-based education modules with linked assessments to evaluate mastery of topic. Subjects received algorithmic EMA text messages soliciting a response regarding lifestyle behavior. Upon answering, subjects received tailored EMI text messaging supporting healthy lifestyle. RESULTS: Thirty subjects (27 female and 3 male), with age of 41.3 +/- 11.4 years and BMI of 46.3 +/- 7.4 kg/m2 were enrolled. Twenty subjects completed the study. Ten subjects withdrew. On average, seven out of nine education modules were completed (70.9 +/- 27.3 %), and 37.8/123 EMA were answered (30.7 +/- 21.7 %), with response time of 17.4 +/- 4.4 min. Subjects reported high satisfaction with the app. Many felt that the app fit into their routine “somewhat easily” or “very easily” (n = 12), had “perfect” amount of EMA messages (n = 8), and was very helpful in preparing for surgery (n = 7). CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to reveal the feasibility of using a smartphone app in the education and engagement of patients prior to bariatric surgery. The app was well-received based on subject satisfaction scores and revealed trends toward positive behavior change and increased weight loss. Randomized trials are necessary to delineate true efficacy.
Muntaner, Adria; Vidal-Conti, Josep; Palou, Pere (2015): Increasing physical activity through mobile device interventions: A systematic review. In: Health Informatics J. DOI: 10.1177/1460458214567004.
Physical inactivity is a health problem that affects people worldwide and has been identified as the fourth largest risk factor for overall mortality (contributing to 6% of deaths globally). Many researchers have tried to increase physical activity levels through traditional methods without much success. Thus, many researchers are turning to mobile technology as an emerging method for changing health behaviours. This systematic review sought to summarise and update the existing scientific literature on increasing physical activity through mobile device interventions, taking into account the methodological quality of the studies. The articles were identified by searching the PubMed, SCOPUS and SPORTDiscus databases for studies published between January 2003 and December 2013. Studies investigating efforts to increase physical activity through mobile phone or even personal digital assistant interventions were included. The search results allowed the inclusion of 11 studies that gave rise to 12 publications. Six of the articles included in this review reported significant increases in physical activity levels. The number of studies using mobile devices for interventions has increased exponentially in the last few years, but future investigations with better methodological quality are needed to draw stronger conclusions regarding how to increase physical activity through mobile device interventions.
Novak, D.; Albert, F.; Spaniel, F. (2014): Analysis of actigraph parameters for relapse prediction in bipolar disorder: A feasibility study. In: Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2014, S. 4972–4975. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2014.6944740.
The paper presents a framework for early identification of prodromal syndromes od mania or depression in bipolar disorder. The framework may mitigate relapses and improve patient functioning. The methodology consists of long-term actigraphy monitoring and simplified self-assessment tool to determine manic or depression events. Eight patients were involved in the feasibility study, spanning period of 150 months, resulting in 17 relapses and 3 hospitalizations in total. We concluded that the most promising parameter extracted from actigraphy recording is a circadian rhythm’s interdaily stability. Using developed trend analysis applied on interdaily stability parameter, we achieved sensitivity and specificity about 65, resp. 68. We hypothesized that this performance is both mainly due to missing values in data and due to small amount of relapses.
Odawara, Miyuki; Hashizume, Masahiro; Yoshiuchi, Kazuhiro; Tsuboi, Koji (2015): Real-Time Assessment of the Effect of Biofeedback Therapy with Migraine: A Pilot Study. In: Int J Behav Med. DOI: 10.1007/s12529-015-9469-z.
BACKGROUND: Biofeedback therapy has been reported to be effective in the treatment of migraine. However, previous studies have assessed its effectiveness using paper-and-pencil diaries, which are not very reliable. PURPOSE: The objective of the present pilot study was to investigate the feasibility of using computerized ecological momentary assessment (EMA) for evaluating the efficacy of BF treatment for migraine in a randomized controlled trial. METHOD: The subjects comprised one male and 26 female patients with migraine. They were randomly assigned to either biofeedback or wait-list control groups. Patients were asked to carry a palmtop-type computer to record momentary symptoms for 4 weeks before and after biofeedback treatment. The primary outcome measure was headache intensity. The secondary outcome measures included psychological stress, anxiety, irritation, headache-related disability and the frequency (number of days per month) of migraine attack and of headache of at least moderate intensity (pain rating >/=50). RESULTS: Headache intensity showed significant main effects of period (before vs. after therapy, p = 0.02) and group (biofeedback vs. control groups, p = 0.42) and a significant period x group interaction (p < 0.001). Biofeedback reduced the duration of headaches by 1.9 days, and the frequency of days when headache intensity was >/=50 by 2.4 times. In addition, headache-related disability, psychological stress, depression, anxiety, and irritation were significantly improved. CONCLUSION: The present study used computerized EMA to show that biofeedback could improve the symptoms of migraine, including psychological stress and headache-related disability.
Ottaviani, Cristina; Medea, Barbara; Lonigro, Antonia; Tarvainen, Mika; Couyoumdjian, Alessandro (2015): Cognitive rigidity is mirrored by autonomic inflexibility in daily life perseverative cognition. In: Biol Psychol 107, S. 24–30. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.02.011.
Mind wandering (MW) can be persistent and therefore has been included in the repetitive thinking conceptualization. In line with a dimensional view of psychopathology, we hypothesized the existence of a MW-Perseverative Cognition (PC) continuum, where the latter is characterized by a rigid and defensive pattern with attentional, behavioral, affective, and autonomic perseverative manifestations. Ambulatory heart rate (HR) and variability (HRV) of 42 participants were recorded for 24h. Approximately every 30min during waking, subjects reported their ongoing thoughts and moods using electronic diaries. MW was characterized by less effort to inhibit the thought and less interference with ongoing activities, absence of mood worsening, and higher HRV compared to PC. Worse sleep quality was predicted by higher levels of trait rumination and daily PC. Results suggest that MW and PC represent the functional and pathological ends of a continuum, respectively.
Ottaviani, Cristina; Shahabi, Leila; Tarvainen, Mika; Cook, Ian; Abrams, Michelle; Shapiro, David (2014): Cognitive, behavioral, and autonomic correlates of mind wandering and perseverative cognition in major depression. In: Front Neurosci 8, S. 433. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00433.
Autonomic dysregulation has been hypothesized to play a role in the relationships between psychopathology and cardiovascular risk. An important transdiagnostic factor that has been associated with autonomic dysfunction is perseverative cognition (PC), mainly present in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in the form of rumination. As the ability to adaptively let our mind wander without ruminating is critical to mental health, this study aimed to examine the autonomic concomitants of functional vs. dysfunctional intrusive thoughts in MDD. Ambulatory heart rate (HR) and variability (HRV) of 18 MDD subjects and 18 healthy controls were recorded for 24 h. Approximately every 30 min during waking hours subjects reported their ongoing thoughts and moods using electronic diaries. Random regression models were performed. Compared to controls, MDD subjects were more often caught during episodes of PC. In both groups, PC required more effort to be inhibited and interfered more with ongoing activities compared to mind wandering (MW) (ps < 0.0001). This cognitive rigidity was mirrored by autonomic inflexibility, as PC was characterized by lower HRV (p < 0.0001) compared to MW. A worse mood was reported by MDD patients compared to controls, independently of their ongoing cognitive process. Controls, however, showed the highest mood worsening during PC compared to being on task and MW. HRV during rumination correlated with self-reported somatic symptoms on the same day and several dispositional traits. MDD subjects showed lower HRV during sleep, which correlated with hopelessness rumination. Results show that PC is associated with autonomic dysfunctions in both healthy and MDD subjects. Understanding when spontaneous thought is adaptive and when it is not may clarify its role in the etiology of mood disorders, shedding light on the still unexplained association between psychopathology, chronic stress, and risk for health.
Pakpour, Amir H.; Yekaninejad, Mir Saeed; Pallich, Gianandrea; Burri, Andrea (2015): Using ecological momentary assessment to investigate short-term variations in sexual functioning in a sample of peri-menopausal women from Iran. In: PLoS One 10 (2), S. e0117299. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117299.
The investigation of short-term changes in female sexual functioning has received little attention so far. The aims of the study were to gain empirical knowledge on within-subject and within- and across-variable fluctuations in women’s sexual functioning over time. More specifically, to investigate the stability of women s self-reported sexual functioning and the moderating effects of contextual and interpersonal factors. A convenience sample of 206 women, recruited across eight Health care Clinics in Rasht, Iran. Ecological momentary assessment was used to examine fluctuations of sexual functioning over a six week period. A shortened version of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) was applied to assess sexual functioning. Self-constructed questions were included to assess relationship satisfaction, partner’s sexual performance and stress levels. Mixed linear two-level model analyses revealed a link between orgasm and relationship satisfaction (Beta = 0.125, P = 0.074) with this link varying significantly between women. Analyses further revealed a significant negative association between stress and all six domains of women’s sexual functioning. Women not only reported differing levels of stress over the course of the assessment period, but further differed from each other in how much stress they experienced and how much this influenced their sexual response. Orgasm and sexual satisfaction were both significantly associated with all other domains of sexual function (P<0.001). And finally, a link between partner performance and all domains of women`s sexual functioning (P<0.001) could be detected. Except for lubrication (P = 0.717), relationship satisfaction had a significant effect on all domains of the sexual response (P<0.001). Overall, our findings support the new group of criteria introduced in the DSM-5, called “associated features” such as partner factors and relationship factors. Consideration of these criteria is important and necessary for clinicians when diagnosing FSD.
Pasek, Tracy Ann; Locasto, Lisa W.; Reichard, Joseph; Fazio Sumrok, Vanessa C; Johnson, Eric W.; Kontos, Anthony P. (2015): The headache electronic diary for children with concussion. In: Clin Nurse Spec 29 (2), S. 80–88. DOI: 10.1097/NUR.0000000000000108.
PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: The purposes of the study were to (1) develop a prospective, real time, age-appropriate, and appealing prototype of an electronic headache pain diary for children and (2) evaluate the clinical feasibility and utility of the diary for the assessment and documentation of concussion headache. DESIGN: A mixed-methods design of qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey was used. SETTING: The setting was a sports medicine concussion clinic. SAMPLE: The sample included 2 independent groups of 30 children (females n = 36, males n = 24) each aged 12 to 17 years, with postconcussion headache and pediatric concussion expert clinicians (n = 5). METHODS: During phase 1 of the study, subjects were interviewed individually about their headaches and their ideas for an electronic diary. A prototype was developed using these children’s interview data. In phase 2 of the study, both children and clinicians piloted the prototype. Clinicians’ survey data regarding the feasibility and utility of the diary were examined using thematic and descriptive analyses. RESULTS: The phase 1 sample recommended a diary with calendar and clock functions, head views, menus (eg, pain descriptors), soft colors, a choice of pain assessment scales, and the ability to personalize it. All of the children thought that the new Headache Electronic Diary for Children With Concussion (HED-CC) would be helpful to track their headache and reported that other children with concussions would be likely to use it. Participants recommended improvement of the head views and clock function. In phase 2 of the study, all clinicians reported that the new HED-CC measure was feasible and useful for the assessment and documentation of headache. CONCLUSIONS: The new HED-CC provides for thorough assessment and documentation of postconcussion headache. Proactive, real-time measurement helps children remember the details of their headache pain and correlating events/circumstances. An appealing, age-appropriate measure increases the likelihood of children’s symptom tracking and data accuracy. The HED-CC will improve clinicians’ understanding of postconcussion headache and guide treatment. Additional testing with a larger sample is required to establish clinical application benefits and improve reliability/validity of the new measure.
Patel, Neil; Jones, Pauline; Adamson, Vikki; Spiteri, Monica; Kinmond, Kathryn (2015): Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients’ Experiences of an Enhanced Self-Management Model of Care. In: Qual Health Res. DOI: 10.1177/1049732315573013.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is debilitating and costly. Self-management is championed to empower individuals to better manage their condition and also to efficiently utilize health resources. As a multi-disciplinary team, we conducted focus group research with individuals living with COPD who were participating in a longitudinal study to use an electronic “diary” to monitor, record, and transmit their own health status, plus receiving regular nurse visits. The main aims of the focus groups were to investigate how far individuals embraced the electronic diary and experienced it as an aid to the self-management of their condition. We also looked at the importance of the nurse visits to the process. Thematic analysis revealed that patients responded positively to the use of technology (the electronic diary), including psychological benefits of perceived support offered by the remote symptom surveillance. Findings also showed patients’ increased awareness and monitoring of personal symptoms together with an improved understanding of disease self-management. Nurse support emerged as an important “human” factor in the process. In addition, a reduction in hospital admission was observed, thus reducing costs to the health service.
Payne, Hannah E.; Lister, Cameron; West, Joshua H.; Bernhardt, Jay M. (2015): Behavioral functionality of mobile apps in health interventions: a systematic review of the literature. In: JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 3 (1), S. e20. DOI: 10.2196/mhealth.3335.
BACKGROUND: Several thousand mobile phone apps are available to download to mobile phones for health and fitness. Mobile phones may provide a unique means of administering health interventions to populations. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this systematic review was to systematically search and describe the literature on mobile apps used in health behavior interventions, describe the behavioral features and focus of health apps, and to evaluate the potential of apps to disseminate health behavior interventions. METHODS: We conducted a review of the literature in September 2014 using key search terms in several relevant scientific journal databases. Only English articles pertaining to health interventions using mobile phone apps were included in the final sample. RESULTS: The 24 studies identified for this review were primarily feasibility and pilot studies of mobile apps with small sample sizes. All studies were informed by behavioral theories or strategies, with self-monitoring as the most common construct. Acceptability of mobile phone apps was high among mobile phone users. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of large sample studies using mobile phone apps may signal a need for additional studies on the potential use of mobile apps to assist individuals in changing their health behaviors. Of these studies, there is early evidence that apps are well received by users. Based on available research, mobile apps may be considered a feasible and acceptable means of administering health interventions, but a greater number of studies and more rigorous research and evaluations are needed to determine efficacy and establish evidence for best practices.
Pe, Madeline Lee; Kircanski, Katharina; Thompson, Renee J.; Bringmann, Laura F.; Tuerlinckx, Francis; Mestdagh, Merijn et al. (2015): Emotion-network density in major depressive disorder. In: Clinical Psychological Science 3 (2), S. 292–300. DOI: 10.1177/2167702614540645.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent disorder involving disturbances in mood. There is still much to understand regarding precisely how emotions are disrupted in individuals with MDD. In this study, we used a network approach to examine the emotional disturbances underlying MDD. We hypothesized that compared with healthy control individuals, individuals diagnosed with MDD would be characterized by a denser emotion network, thereby indicating that their emotion system is more resistant to change. Indeed, results from a 7-day experience sampling study revealed that individuals with MDD had a denser overall emotion network than did healthy control individuals. Moreover, this difference was driven primarily by a denser negative, but not positive, network in MDD participants. These findings suggest that the disruption in emotions that characterizes depressed individuals stems from a negative emotion system that is resistant to change.
Peacock, Amy; Cash, Catherine; Bruno, Raimondo; Ferguson, Stuart G. (2015): Day-by-day variation in affect, arousal and alcohol consumption in young adults. In: Drug Alcohol Rev. DOI: 10.1111/dar.12238.
INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Alcohol consumption has a well-established relationship with mood, with higher positive and negative affect predicting alcohol use. More recently, researchers have explored whether alcohol consumption occurs as a response to affect variability as an attempt to self-medicate and stabilise affect. Studies have revealed a positive association between alcohol use and intra- and inter-individual affect variability in clinical and university student samples; however not much is known of this relationship among the general community. DESIGN AND METHODS: Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) methods were used to investigate the relationship between affect and arousal variability and alcohol use in 53 community volunteers. Participants self-reported affect and arousal at three to five randomly timed moments throughout the day, as well as every time they drank. RESULTS: On a day-to-day basis, higher positive affect was associated with increased alcohol consumption. When analyses were restricted to self-reported affect prior to alcohol consumption, only increased arousal and decreased variability in arousal predicted the likelihood of alcohol consumption. Mean level of arousal was associated with the extent of alcohol consumed. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: In this moderate drinking sample day-to-day affect and arousal, and arousal variability, were associated with alcohol consumption. Analyses restricted to pre-drinking observations provide further evidence that self-medication accounts of alcohol consumption may explain drinking initiation but that the relationship between affect factors and drinking behaviour may change around the point of first drink. [Peacock A, Cash C, Bruno R, Ferguson SG. Day-by-day variation in affect, arousal and alcohol consumption in young adults. Drug Alcohol Rev 2015].
Poerio, Giulia L.; Totterdell, Peter; Emerson, Lisa-Marie; Miles, Eleanor (2015): Love is the triumph of the imagination: Daydreams about significant others are associated with increased happiness, love and connection. In: Conscious Cogn 33, S. 135–144. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.12.011.
Social relationships and interactions contribute to daily emotional well-being. The emotional benefits that come from engaging with others are known to arise from real events, but do they also come from the imagination during daydreaming activity? Using experience sampling methodology with 101 participants, we obtained 371 reports of naturally occurring daydreams with social and non-social content and self-reported feelings before and after daydreaming. Social, but not non-social, daydreams were associated with increased happiness, love and connection and this effect was not solely attributable to the emotional content of the daydreams. These effects were only present when participants were lacking in these feelings before daydreaming and when the daydream involved imagining others with whom the daydreamer had a high quality relationship. Findings are consistent with the idea that social daydreams may function to regulate emotion: imagining close others may serve the current emotional needs of daydreamers by increasing positive feelings towards themselves and others.
Rabbitts, Jennifer A.; Groenewald, Cornelius B.; Tai, Gabrielle G.; Palermo, Tonya M. (2015): Presurgical psychosocial predictors of acute postsurgical pain and quality of life in children undergoing major surgery. In: The Journal of Pain 16 (3), S. 226–234. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2014.11.015.
Limited research has examined presurgical risk factors for poor outcomes in children after major surgery. This longitudinal study examined presurgical psychosocial and behavioral factors as predictors of acute postsurgical pain intensity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children 2 weeks after major surgery. Sixty children aged 10 to 18 years, 66.7% female, and their parent/guardian participated in the study. Children underwent baseline assessment of pain (daily electronic diary), HRQOL, sleep (actigraphy), and psychosocial factors (anxiety, pain catastrophizing). Caregivers reported on parental pain catastrophizing. Longitudinal follow-up assessment of pain and HRQOL was conducted at home 2 weeks after surgery. Regression analyses adjusting for baseline pain revealed that presurgery sleep duration (β = −.26, P < .05) and parental pain catastrophizing (β = .28, P < .05) were significantly associated with mean pain intensity reported by children 2 weeks after surgery, with shorter presurgery sleep duration and greater parental catastrophizing about child pain predicting greater pain intensity. Adjusting for baseline HRQOL, presurgery child state anxiety (β = −.29, P < .05) was significantly associated with HRQOL at 2 weeks, with greater anxiety predicting poorer HRQOL after surgery. In conclusion, child anxiety, parental pain catastrophizing, and sleep patterns are potentially modifiable factors that predict poor outcomes in children after major surgery. Perspective: This study addresses an important gap in literature, examining presurgical risk factors for poorer acute postsurgical outcomes in children undergoing major surgery. Knowledge of these factors will enable presurgical identification of children at risk for poorer outcomes and guide further research developing prevention and intervention strategies for these children.
Rasmussen, Anne S.; Ramsgaard, Stine B.; Berntsen, Dorthe (2015): Frequency and Functions of Involuntary and Voluntary Autobiographical Memories Across the Day. In: Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. DOI: 10.1037/cns0000042.
Involuntary autobiographical memories are memories of personally experienced events that come to mind spontaneously, whereas voluntary (i.e., deliberately recalled) memories are based on strategic retrieval processes, reflecting a goal-directed search. Previous work using an online recording methodology (i.e., a mechanical counter) has shown that involuntary compared with voluntary memories are 3 times as frequent in daily life, but there is evidence to suggest that frequency estimates of involuntary memories are sensitive to the methods used to make the recordings. Here, we use different types of online recording devices across 3 studies. In Study 1, using a mechanical counter, we replicated previous work showing that involuntary memories are almost 3 times as frequent as their voluntary counterparts. In Studies 2 and 3, we used smartphones to assess online frequency and found that the shift in recording device led to a decrease in the frequency of involuntary but not of voluntary memories. Furthermore, the smartphone assessment showed that involuntary memories were more frequent in the middle of the day, whereas voluntary retrieval was evenly distributed across the day. Voluntary relative to involuntary memories were estimated to serve more problem solving and directive functions in Studies 1 and 2 and as being more functionally relevant to the ongoing situation in Study 3. In conclusion, regardless of recording device, involuntary memories are at least as frequent as their voluntary counterparts, but are perceived to be less functionally relevant to the immediate retrieval context.
Roberts, Megan E.; Bidwell, L. Cinnamon; Colby, Suzanne M.; Gwaltney, Chad J. (2015): With Others or Alone? Adolescent Individual Differences in the Context of Smoking Lapses. In: Health Psychol. DOI: 10.1037/hea0000211.
Objective: Although a great deal of adolescent smoking research has investigated predictors of initiation, much less has focused on predictors of lapsing during a quit attempt. In particular, the role of social context may deserve greater attention in models of adolescent smoking cessation. Therefore, the present investigation aimed to use ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine individual differences in social lapsing-the extent to which lapses occur around others versus when alone. Methods: Analyses focused on 179 adolescent smokers (aged 14-18 years) engaged in an unassisted quit attempt. There were 2 general EMA assessment intervals: prequit (1 week) and postquit (2 weeks). Participants reported every time that they smoked a cigarette and at random, nonsmoking times; in each assessment, participants responded to questions about their current environment, behaviors, and psychological state. A 3-month follow-up assessed longer-term smoking-related outcomes. Results: Consistent with other adolescent research, the overall rate of lapsing was very high (93%). Social lapsing rates were likewise high (among those who lapsed, 73% reported their first lapse was social), but they also varied continuously across individuals. We computed a social lapsing coefficient for each youth and found that it related to smoking factors at baseline (e.g., lower smoking intensity and dependence) and follow-up (e.g., lower cotinine levels). Conclusions: These results suggest that higher rates of social lapsing are associated with being a lighter, less dependent smoker and having better eventual cessation prospects. Findings provide evidence that accounting for variability in social lapsing may improve theory and treatment.
Rosen, Natalie O.; Muise, Amy; Bergeron, Sophie; Delisle, Isabelle; Baxter, Mary Lou (2015): Daily associations between partner responses and sexual and relationship satisfaction in couples coping with provoked vestibulodynia. In: J Sex Med 12 (4), S. 1028–1039. DOI: 10.1111/jsm.12840.
INTRODUCTION: Women with provoked vestibulodynia (PVD) experience a recurrent vulvo-vaginal pain triggered primarily during sexual intercourse. Although affected couples report adverse effects on their sexual and global romantic relationships, few studies have examined interpersonal factors that may influence their sexual and relationship satisfaction. Cross-sectional studies have shown that greater partner solicitous and negative responses and lower facilitative responses are associated with poorer sexual and relationship satisfaction in women with PVD. AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the within-person associations between partner responses to painful intercourse and the sexual and relationship satisfaction of affected couples. METHODS: In a dyadic daily experience study, 69 women (Mage = 28.46, SD = 6.66) diagnosed with PVD and their cohabitating male partners (Mage = 30.29, SD = 8.13) reported on male partner responses, as well as sexual and relationship satisfaction on sexual intercourse days (M = 6.81; SD = 5.40) over 8 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Dependent measures were the (i) Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale and (ii) Global Measure of Sexual Satisfaction Scale. RESULTS: On sexual intercourse days when women perceived more facilitative partner responses than usual and on days when they perceived lower negative partner responses than usual, they reported higher sexual and relationship satisfaction. On sexual intercourse days when men reported more solicitous responses than usual, both they and their female partners reported lower sexual satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions aimed at improving the day-to-day sexual and relationship satisfaction of couples with PVD should target increasing facilitative and decreasing negative and solicitous partner responses. Rosen NO, Muise A, Bergeron S, Delisle I, and Baxter ML. Daily associations between partner responses and sexual and relationship satisfaction in couples coping with provoked vestibulodynia. J Sex Med 2015;12:1028-1039.
Ross, Craig Stuart (2015): Social and familial risk factors for drinking initiation and affective response to marijuana use. In: Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering 75 (9-B(E)).
Early initiation of substance use increases risks for abuse, injury, dependence, and death for young people around the globe. When substances are used for affect regulation, there is a risk of escalating use. This dissertation examines social and familial risk factors for initiation of alcohol use, and the affective response to marijuana use in naturalistic settings. In study #1, we explored the prospective association between television advertising for alcoholic beverages, changes in alcohol expectancies, and initiation of drinking over 12 months. We found that alcohol expectancies and the odds of drinking initiation increased over 12 months as a non-linear function of advertising exposure for boys. In study #2, we examined the association between adolescent freedoms and drinking initiation. We found that adolescents who were free to set their own bedtimes on weeknights had (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval) 1.53 (1.27,1.86) higher odds of drinking initiation. We found that associations varied by sex for freedoms regarding companionship and weekend curfews. Notably, we found that boys who were granted the freedom to choose their own time to come home on weekends had 0.63 (0.47-0.85) times lower odds of drinking initiation within 12 months while girls had 1.30 (0.97-1.73) times increased odds. In study #3, we used both correlated data analysis methods and a case-crossover design to analyze data from an Ecological Momentary Assessment study examining changes in momentary affect following marijuana use. We found that negative affect was higher following marijuana use compared to background times, except for times when marijuana was being used to cope or conform. We found positive affect increased following marijuana use for persons with cannabis dependence but decreased otherwise. Further, we found that extremes of negative and positive affect were more likely to be experienced following marijuana use relative to background time periods. Our findings regarding alcohol advertising may inform efforts to ban alcohol advertising in countries including Finland and South Africa, while the findings relating to adolescent freedoms may improve parent education programs regarding underage drinking. Finally, improved understanding of the affective response to marijuana use may improve treatment programs.
Ruscio, Ayelet Meron; Gentes, Emily L.; Jones, Jason D.; Hallion, Lauren S.; Coleman, Elizabeth S.; Swendsen, Joel (2015): Rumination predicts heightened responding to stressful life events in major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. In: J Abnorm Psychol 124 (1), S. 17–26. DOI: 10.1037/abn0000025.
Although studies have documented heightened stress sensitivity in major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), the mechanisms involved are poorly understood. One possible mechanism is the tendency to ruminate in response to stress. We used ecological momentary assessment to study ruminative thoughts after stressful events in 145 adults with MDD, GAD, comorbid MDD-GAD, or no psychopathology. Diagnosed individuals reported more event-related rumination than controls, even after adjusting for event stressfulness. Rumination was equally common in MDD and GAD and was especially severe among comorbid cases. More rumination immediately after the event predicted poorer affect, more maladaptive behavior, and more MDD and GAD symptoms at the next signal, even when pre-event levels of these variables were controlled. Rumination mediated, but did not moderate, the association of stress with affect and with symptoms. Stress-related rumination was more deleterious for diagnosed than healthy individuals, more intense for more severe clinical cases, and more persistent for cases with a greater temperamental vulnerability for emotional disorders. These results implicate rumination as a mechanism of stress sensitivity and suggest pathways through which it may maintain depression and anxiety in everyday life.
Schuz, Benjamin; Bower, Jodie; Ferguson, Stuart G. (2015): Stimulus control and affect in dietary behaviours. An intensive longitudinal study. In: Appetite 87, S. 310–317. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2015.01.002.
BACKGROUND: Dietary behaviours are substantially influenced by environmental and internal stimuli, such as mood, social situation, and food availability. However, little is known about the role of stimulus control for eating in non-clinical populations, and no studies so far have looked at eating and drinking behaviour simultaneously. METHOD: 53 individuals from the general population took part in an intensive longitudinal study with repeated, real-time assessments of eating and drinking using Ecological Momentary Assessment. Eating was assessed as main meals and snacks, drinks assessments were separated along alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Situational and internal stimuli were assessed during both eating and drinking events, and during randomly selected non-eating occasions. Hierarchical multinomial logistic random effects models were used to analyse data, comparing dietary events to non-eating occasions. RESULTS: Several situational and affective antecedents of dietary behaviours could be identified. Meals were significantly associated with having food available and observing others eat. Snacking was associated with negative affect, having food available, and observing others eat. Engaging in activities and being with others decreased the likelihood of eating behaviours. Non-alcoholic drinks were associated with observing others eat, and less activities and company. Alcoholic drinks were associated with less negative affect and arousal, and with observing others eat. CONCLUSIONS: RESULTS support the role of stimulus control in dietary behaviours, with support for both internal and external, in particular availability and social stimuli. The findings for negative affect support the idea of comfort eating, and results point to the formation of eating habits via cue-behaviour associations.
Schwerdtfeger, Andreas R.; Friedrich-Mai, Peter; Gerteis, Ann Kathrin S. (2015): Daily positive affect and nocturnal cardiac activation. In: International Journal of Behavioral Medicine 22 (1), S. 132–138. DOI: 10.1007/s12529-014-9396-4.
Background: Positive affect (PA) has been suggested to benefit health via psychobiological pathways. Studies found higher cardiac vagal tone in individuals who exhibit a positive emotional style. Purpose: This study aimed to examine the relationship between momentary-assessed PA and nocturnal heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) in everyday life. Methods: Participants were 60 healthy adults who provided multiple ratings of activated (e.g., dynamic, activated) and deactivated PA (e.g., relaxed, even-tempered) and negative affect (NA) throughout one day. HR and HRV were recorded the subsequent night. Results: Aggregated deactivated PA throughout the day was associated with higher nocturnal HRV and lower HR. Activated PA and NA were unrelated with both cardiac variables. Findings were independent of other demographic and behavioral confounds. Conclusions: Feeling relaxed, calm, content, and even-tempered throughout the day might have beneficial effects on the heart during sleep, although the causality of this effect remains speculative because of the correlational design of this study.
Scott, Lori N.; Stepp, Stephanie D.; Hallquist, Michael N.; Whalen, Diana J.; Wright, Aidan G C; Pilkonis, Paul A. (2015): Daily shame and hostile irritability in adolescent girls with borderline personality disorder symptoms. In: Personal Disord 6 (1), S. 53–63. DOI: 10.1037/per0000107.
Recent theoretical and empirical work suggests that adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have difficulty regulating both shame and anger, and that these emotions may be functionally related in clinically relevant ways (e.g., Schoenleber & Berenbaum, 2012b). The covariation of shame with anger-related emotions has important clinical implications for interventions targeting shame and uncontrolled anger in BPD. However, no studies have examined shame, anger, and their covariation in adolescents who may be at risk for developing BPD. Therefore, this study focuses on associations between BPD symptoms and patterns of covariation between daily experiences of shame and anger-related affects (i.e., hostile irritability) in a community sample of adolescent girls using ecological momentary assessment. Multilevel models revealed that girls with greater BPD symptoms who reported greater mean levels of shame across the week also tended to report more hostile irritability, even after controlling for guilt. Additionally, examination of within-person variability showed that girls with greater BPD symptoms reported more hostile irritability on occasions when they also reported greater concurrent shame, but this was only the case in girls of average socioeconomic status (i.e., those not receiving public assistance). Unlike shame, guilt was not associated with hostile irritability in girls with greater BPD symptoms. Results suggest that shame may be a key clinical target in the treatment of anger-related difficulties among adolescent girls with BPD symptoms.
Selya, Arielle S.; Updegrove, Nicole; Rose, Jennifer S.; Dierker, Lisa; Tan, Xianming; Hedeker, Donald et al. (2015): Nicotine-dependence-varying effects of smoking events on momentary mood changes among adolescents. In: Addictive Behaviors 41, S. 65–71. DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2014.09.028.
Introduction: Theories of nicotine addiction emphasize the initial role of positive reinforcement in the development of regular smoking behavior, and the role of negative reinforcement at later stages. These theories are tested here by examining the effects of amount smoked per smoking event on smoking-related mood changes, and how nicotine dependence (ND) moderates this effect. The current study examines these questions within a sample of light adolescent smokers drawn from the metropolitan Chicago area (N = 151, 55.6% female, mean 17.7 years). Instruments: Ecological momentary assessment data were collected via handheld computers, and additional variables were drawn from a traditional questionnaire. Methods: Effects of the amount smoked per event on changes in positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) after vs. before smoking were examined, while controlling for subject-averaged amount smoked, age, gender, and day of week. ND-varying effects were examined using varying effect models to elucidate their change across levels of ND. Results: The effect of the amount smoked per event was significantly associated with an increase in PA among adolescents with low-to-moderate levels of ND, and was not significant at high ND. Conversely, the effect of the amount smoked was significantly associated with a decrease in NA only for adolescents with low levels of ND. Conclusions: These findings support the role of positive reinforcement in early stages of dependent smoking, but do not support the role of negative reinforcement beyond early stages of smoking. Other potential contributing factors to the relationship between smoking behavior and PA/NA change are discussed.
Serre, Fuschia; Fatseas, Melina; Swendsen, Joel; Auriacombe, Marc (2015): Ecological momentary assessment in the investigation of craving and substance use in daily life: a systematic review. In: Drug Alcohol Depend 148, S. 1–20. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.12.024.
BACKGROUND: Craving is viewed as a major determinant of relapse in persons with substance addiction, but this association remains poorly understood due to its time-limited nature and the biases associated with retrospective reporting. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) offers new opportunities to examine both craving and substance use with strong ecological validity by collecting real-time data in daily life. This review examined all published studies using EMA to: (1) assess the link between craving and substance use; and (2) identify relevant moderators of craving among substance users. METHODS: We searched PubMed and PsycInfo databases up to October 31, 2013. RESULTS: Ninety-one studies were selected, involving mostly tobacco smokers (73%). A majority of studies (92%) reported a positive relationship between craving and substance use, concurrently and prospectively, and among users with different levels of use for both legal and illegal substances. Results suggest that craving is a stronger predictor of relapse episodes when assessed in close temporal proximity to substance use. EMA data also confirmed the influence of diverse within-person and between-person sources of variation in daily life craving reports. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides strong support for the link between craving and substance use, and underscores the importance of the timing of assessments.
Seto, Edmund; Hua, Jenna; Wu, Lemuel; Bestick, Aaron; Shia, Victor; Eom, Sue et al. (2014): The Kunming CalFit study: modeling dietary behavioral patterns using smartphone data. In: Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2014, S. 6884–6887. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2014.6945210.
Human behavioral interventions aimed at improving health can benefit from objective wearable sensor data and mathematical models. Smartphone-based sensing is particularly practical for monitoring behavioral patterns because smartphones are fairly common, are carried by individuals throughout their daily lives, offer a variety of sensing modalities, and can facilitate various forms of user feedback for intervention studies. We describe our findings from a smartphone-based study, in which an Android-based application we developed called CalFit was used to collect information related to young adults’ dietary behaviors. In addition to monitoring dietary patterns, we were interested in understanding contextual factors related to when and where an individual eats, as well as how their dietary intake relates to physical activity (which creates energy demand) and psychosocial stress. 12 participants were asked to use CalFit to record videos of their meals over two 1-week periods, which were translated into nutrient intake by trained dietitians. During this same period, triaxial accelerometry was used to assess each subject’s energy expenditure, and GPS was used to record time-location patterns. Ecological momentary assessment was also used to prompt subjects to respond to questions on their phone about their psychological state. The GPS data were processed through a web service we developed called Foodscoremap that is based on the Google Places API to characterize food environments that subjects were exposed to, which may explain and influence dietary patterns. Furthermore, we describe a modeling framework that incorporates all of these information to dynamically infer behavioral patterns that may be used for future intervention studies.
Shiffman, Saul; Dunbar, Michael S.; Ferguson, Stuart G. (2015): Stimulus Control in Intermittent and Daily Smokers. In: Psychol Addict Behav. DOI: 10.1037/adb0000052.
Many adult smokers are intermittent smokers (ITS) who do not smoke daily. Prior analyses have suggested that, compared with daily smokers (DS), ITS smoking was, on average, more linked to particular situations, such as alcohol consumption. However, such particular associations assessed in common across subjects may underestimate stimulus control over smoking, which may vary across persons, due to different conditioning histories. We quantify such idiographic stimulus control using separate multivariable logistic regressions for each subject to estimate how well the subject’s smoking could be predicted from a panel of situational characteristics, without requiring that other subjects respond to the same stimuli. Subjects were 212 ITS (smoking 4-27 days/month) and 194 DS (5-30 cigarettes daily). Using ecological momentary assessment, subjects monitored situational antecedents of smoking for 3 weeks, recording each cigarette in an electronic diary. Situational characteristics were assessed in a random subset of smoking occasions (n = 21,539), and contrasted with assessments of nonsmoking occasions (n = 26,930) obtained by beeping subjects at random. ITS showed significantly stronger stimulus control than DS across all context domains: mood, location, activity, social setting, consumption, smoking context, and time of day. Mood and smoking context showed the strongest influence on ITS smoking; food and alcohol consumption had the least influence. ITS smoking was under very strong stimulus control; significantly more so than DS, but DS smoking also showed considerable stimulus control. Stimulus control may be an important influence on maintaining smoking and making quitting difficult for all smokers, but especially among ITS. (PsycINFO Database Record
Skalina, Lauren M.; Gunthert, Kathleen C.; Ahrens, Anthony H.; Wenze, Susan J. (2015): Neuroticism and momentary differentiation of positive and negative affect. In: Personality and Individual Differences 75, S. 165–169. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2014.11.018.
Affective differentiation is the degree to which positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) are uncorrelated. The dynamic model of affect (Zautra, Potter, & Reich, 1997) posits that the link between PA and NA should be stronger when stress is high. Because neuroticism relates to more negative everyday stress perceptions and therefore higher daily stress, we hypothesized that neuroticism should be associated with lower affective differentiation on a daily basis. We examined how neuroticism impacts momentary affective differentiation in undergraduate students (n = 126) using an experience sampling design with mood monitored four times daily for one week. We found that neuroticism moderates the within-person relationship between PA and NA: those who are higher in neuroticism experience less affective differentiation. This effect was not mediated or moderated by recent major life stress. We replicated the main finding in two subsequent samples (n = 102 and n = 120, respectively), and thus present the first large set of studies to demonstrate consistently that neuroticism moderates the within-person link between PA and NA.
Sladek, Michael R.; Doane, Leah D. (2015): Daily diary reports of social connection, objective sleep, and the cortisol awakening response during adolescents’ first year of college. In: Journal of Youth and Adolescence 44 (2), S. 298–316. DOI: 10.1007/s10964-014-0244-2.
Poor sleep and alterations in the stress-sensitive hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis may be mechanisms through which loneliness impacts adolescents’ well-being. Few researchers have explored whether daily variation in experiences of social connection predict day-to-day variation in sleep and HPA axis activity among adolescents navigating the college context. Using daily diary reports of social connection, objective measures of sleep (actigraphy), and naturalistic salivary assessment, the present study examined within-person associations between first-year college students’ social connection during the day and sleep that night, as well as diurnal cortisol activity the following day. The present study also explored trait-level loneliness as a moderator of these associations after adjusting for baseline loneliness assessed in high school. Seventy-one first-year college students (23 % male; Mage = 18.85; 52 % non-Hispanic White) completed daily diary reports, wore a wrist-based accelerometer (actigraph watch), and provided saliva samples five times daily across three consecutive weekdays. The results from hierarchical linear models indicated that within-person increases in daily social connection were significantly associated with longer time spent in bed and more actual time asleep that night only for adolescents high on loneliness. Within-person increases in daily social connection were associated with a greater cortisol awakening response (CAR) the next day, regardless of trait loneliness. These findings illustrate that more daily social connection with others than usual may predict improved sleep quantity for lonely adolescents and a physiological index of anticipating upcoming daily demands (CAR) in general. Future intervention programs might consider including strategies focused on enhancing daily social interactions among adolescents starting college, particularly for lonely adolescents.
Swendeman, Dallas; Comulada, W. Scott; Ramanathan, Nithya; Lazar, Maya; Estrin, Deborah (2015): Reliability and validity of daily self-monitoring by smartphone application for health-related quality-of-life, antiretroviral adherence, substance use, and sexual behaviors among people living with HIV. In: AIDS and Behavior 19 (2), S. 330–340. DOI: 10.1007/s10461-014-0923-8.
This paper examines inter-method reliability and validity of daily self-reports by smartphone application compared to 14-day recall web-surveys repeated over 6 weeks with people living with HIV (PLH). A participatory sensing framework guided participant-centered design prioritizing external validity of methods for potential applications in both research and self-management interventions. Inter-method reliability correlations were consistent with prior research for physical and mental health quality-of-life (r = 0.26–0.61), antiretroviral adherence (r = 0.70–0.73), and substance use (r = 0.65–0.92) but not for detailed sexual encounter surveys (r = 0.15–0.61). Concordant and discordant pairwise comparisons show potential trends in reporting biases, for example, lower recall reports of unprotected sex or alcohol use, and rounding up errors for frequent events. Event-based reporting likely compensated for modest response rates to daily time-based prompts, particularly for sexual and drug use behaviors that may not occur daily. Recommendations are discussed for future continuous assessment designs and analyses.
Thogersen-Ntoumani, C.; Loughren, E. A.; Kinnafick, F-E; Taylor, I. M.; Duda, J. L.; Fox, K. R. (2015): Changes in work affect in response to lunchtime walking in previously physically inactive employees: A randomized trial. In: Scand J Med Sci Sports. DOI: 10.1111/sms.12398.
Physical activity may regulate affective experiences at work, but controlled studies are needed and there has been a reliance on retrospective accounts of experience. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of lunchtime walks on momentary work affect at the individual and group levels. Physically inactive employees (N = 56; M age = 47.68; 92.86% female) from a large university in the UK were randomized to immediate treatment or delayed treatment (DT). The DT participants completed both a control and intervention period. During the intervention period, participants partook in three weekly 30-min lunchtime group-led walks for 10 weeks. They completed twice daily affective reports at work (morning and afternoon) using mobile phones on two randomly chosen days per week. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the data. Lunchtime walks improved enthusiasm, relaxation, and nervousness at work, although the pattern of results differed depending on whether between-group or within-person analyses were conducted. The intervention was effective in changing some affective states and may have broader implications for public health and workplace performance.
Thrul, Johannes; Bühler, Anneke; Ferguson, Stuart G. (2015): An Internet-based ecological momentary assessment study relying on participants’ own mobile phones: Insights from a study with young adult smokers. In: European Addiction Research 21 (1), S. 1–5. DOI: 10.1159/000363231.
Background: In this paper we describe a novel Internet-based cell phone-optimized assessment technique (ICAT) to conduct an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study. Participants could access the assessment instrument via the web browsers of their mobile phones. Methods: We report results from 92 young adult smokers (18–25 years old) who completed the baseline assessment and the first of 4 waves (3 days/wave) of EMA. Random prompts were issued via text messages sent to the participants. The participants were also instructed to self-initiate reports of smoking situations. Results: Compliance with the study protocols was low. In total, the participants completed 885 assessments during the 3 days of monitoring. Only 50.2% of random prompts were responded to, and 52.4% of those were completed within the first 10 min after issuing. Furthermore, reports of smoking situations were rarely self-initiated. In a multivariate regression analysis, age (positively) and female gender (negatively) predicted the number of completed assessments. Conclusions: This study adds to the limited experiences made with ICAT in substance use research. Similar to the few prior ICAT studies, compliance was low compared to traditional EMA studies. While using ICAT is technically feasible, specific improvements should be implemented to tap ICAT’s full potential in future studies.
Trougakos, John P.; Beal, Daniel J.; Cheng, Bonnie Hayden; Hideg, Ivona; Zweig, David (2015): Too drained to help: A resource depletion perspective on daily interpersonal citizenship behaviors. In: Journal of Applied Psychology 100 (1), S. 227–236. DOI: 10.1037/a0038082.
This article explores the role of within-person fluctuations in employees’ daily surface acting and subsequent personal energy resources in the performance of organizational citizenship behaviors directed toward other individuals in the workplace (OCBI). Drawing on ego depletion theory (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000), we develop a resource-based model in which surface acting is negatively associated with daily OCBIs through the depletion of resources manifested in end-of-day exhaustion. Further integrating ego depletion theory, we consider the role of employees’ baseline personal resource pool, as indicated by chronic exhaustion, as a critical between-person moderator of these within-person relationships. Using an experience-sampling methodology to test this model, we found that surface acting was indirectly related to coworker ratings of OCBI through the experience of exhaustion. We further found that chronic levels of exhaustion exacerbated the influence of surface acting on employees’ end-of-day exhaustion. These findings demonstrate the importance of employees’ regulatory resource pool for combating depletion and maintaining important work behaviors. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Tyler, Elizabeth; Jones, Steven; Black, Nancy; Carter, Lesley-Anne; Barrowclough, Christine (2015): The Relationship between Bipolar Disorder and Cannabis Use in Daily Life: An Experience Sampling Study. In: PLoS One 10 (3), S. e0118916. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118916.
OBJECTIVES: Although cannabis use is common in bipolar disorder and may contribute to worse clinical outcomes, little is understood about the relationship between this drug and bipolar disorder over the course of daily life. The aim of study was to examine the effect of cannabis on affect and bipolar symptoms in a group of individuals with bipolar disorder. METHODS: Twenty-four participants with bipolar disorder type I or type II completed diaries for 6 days using Experience Sampling Methodology to investigate the temporal associations between cannabis, affect and bipolar disorder symptoms. RESULTS: The results indicated that higher levels of positive affect increase the odds of using cannabis (OR:1.25 ,CI:1.06-1.47, P=0.008). However, neither negative affect, manic nor depressive symptoms predicted the use of cannabis. Cannabis use was associated with subsequent increases in positive affect (beta=0.35, CI:0.20-0.51, P=0.000), manic symptoms (beta=0.20,CI:0.05-0.34, P=0.009) and depressive symptoms (beta= 0.17,CI:0.04-0.29, P=0.008). CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that cannabis use is associated with a number of subsequent psychological effects. However there was no evidence that individuals with BD were using cannabis to self-medicate minor fluctuations in negative affect or bipolar disorder symptoms over the course of daily life. The findings in relation to existing literature and clinical implications are discussed.
Walther, Sebastian; Stegmayer, Katharina; Horn, Helge; Rampa, Luca; Razavi, Nadja; Muller, Thomas J.; Strik, Werner (2015): The Longitudinal Course of Gross Motor Activity in Schizophrenia - Within and between Episodes. In: Front Psychiatry 6, S. 10. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00010.
Schizophrenia is associated with heterogeneous course of positive and negative symptoms. In addition, reduced motor activity as measured by wrist actigraphy has been reported. However, longitudinal studies of spontaneous motor activity are missing. We aimed to explore whether activity levels were stable within and between psychotic episodes. Furthermore, we investigated the association with the course of negative symptoms. In 45 medicated patients, we investigated motor behavior within a psychotic episode. In addition, we followed 18 medicated patients across 2 episodes. Wrist actigraphy and psychopathological ratings were applied. Within an episode symptoms changed but activity levels did not vary systematically. Activity at baseline predicted the course of negative symptoms. Between two episodes activity recordings were much more stable. Again, activity at the index episode predicted the outcome of negative symptoms. In sum, spontaneous motor activity shares trait and state characteristics, the latter are associated with negative symptom course. Actigraphy may therefore become an important ambulatory instrument to monitor negative symptoms and treatment outcome in schizophrenia.
Walther, Sebastian; Stegmayer, Katharina; Horn, Helge; Razavi, Nadja; Muller, Thomas J.; Strik, Werner (2014): Physical Activity in Schizophrenia is Higher in the First Episode than in Subsequent Ones. In: Front Psychiatry 5, S. 191. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00191.
Schizophrenia is frequently associated with abnormal motor behavior, particularly hypokinesia. The course of the illness tends to deteriorate in the first years. We aimed to assess gross motor activity in patients with a first episode (n = 33) and multiple episodes (n = 115) of schizophrenia spectrum disorders using wrist actigraphy. First episode patients were younger, had higher motor activity and reduced negative symptom severity. Covarying for age, chlorpromazine equivalents, and negative symptoms, first episode patients still had higher motor activity. This was also true after excluding patients with schizophreniform disorder from the analyses. In first episode patients, but not in patients with multiple episodes, motor activity was correlated with antipsychotic dosage. In conclusion, after controlling for variables related to disorder chronicity, patients with first episodes were still more active than patients with multiple episodes. Thus, reduced motor activity is a marker of deterioration in the course of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Wessa, M.; Perlini, C.; Brambilla, P. (2015): Neuropsychological underpinnings of the dynamics of bipolar disorder. In: Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci, S. 1–5. DOI: 10.1017/S2045796015000098.
Although we have gained enormous insights into neurobiological and psychological underpinnings of bipolar disorder (BD) symptoms, our knowledge concerning pathogenic mechanisms initiating recurrent affective episodes is still fragmentary. Previous research has highlighted the role of significant life events and social rhythm in recurrent episodes of mania and depression. However, most studies share the drawback of retrospective self-report data, which are prone to recall biases and limited introspective abilities. Therefore, more objective data, such as neuropsychological and neurobiological measures are needed to further unravel the pathogenic mechanisms of the dynamics of bipolar disorder. Previous research has highlighted disturbed emotional reactivity as well as impaired emotion regulation and impulse control as major behavioural characteristics of BD and aberrancies in prefrontal-limbic-striatal networks that have been proposed to be the correlates of these behavioural alterations. However, longitudinal studies assessing these neural and behavioural alterations are rare. Future research should therefore adopt prospective study designs including behavioural and neuroimaging measures underlying cognitive, emotional and motivational deficits in bipolar disorder. Particularly, these measures should be collected continuously at multiple time points as implemented in modern ambulatory assessment tools.
Wettstein, Alexander; Scherzinger, Marion (2015): Using camera-glasses for the assessment of aggressive behaviour among adolescents in residential correctional care: A small-scale study. In: Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research 7 (1), S. 33–46. DOI: 10.1108/JACPR-04-2014-0117.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine naturally occurring episodes of aggressive interaction among adolescents in residential correctional programmes. The aims of our study were twofold. First, the development of a new camera-glasses method, and second, the method’s applicability in the study of aggressive adolescents in residential care. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a mobile assessment strategy, the paper developed a new methodology for in-the-field recording of environmental conditions in which aggressive behaviour arises. The authors used glasses with an inbuilt camera worn by research subjects to record observational data. In the particular study presented here the authors used camera-glasses to observe the material and social environments of eight aggressive adolescents in a residential treatment programme and of a contrast group of four non-aggressive adolescents living at home. Findings: The crucial methodological findings are that camera-glasses successfully record the social and physical environments of aggressive adolescents from their perspective in relation to their environment and interlocutors, and that the camera-glasses method does not generate high reactivity. The results show that aggressive adolescents in residential care use direct and reactive forms of aggression, and that their aggressive behaviours occur predominantly in settings with limited adult supervision. In residential care aggressive behaviour is, paradoxically, an effective strategy for individuals to gain regard and social status among peers and to push their interests among staff. Research limitations/implications: An obvious limitation is the reliance on a small sample which limits the generalisation of the results. Practical implications: For residential facilities it is crucial to reduce the occurrence of low supervised social situations in order to minimise peer contagion. Furthermore, staff and educators need to be trained to use deescalating response strategies when dealing with adolescents’ aggressive behaviour, precisely deescalating strategies which neither involve acquiescence nor surrender to pressure. Originality/value: Our investigations demonstrate that the camera-glasses method is a promising new assessment technique which has applicability in various fields of adolescent research.
Wigman, J T W; van Os, J.; Borsboom, D.; Wardenaar, K. J.; Epskamp, S.; Klippel, A. et al. (2015): Exploring the underlying structure of mental disorders: cross-diagnostic differences and similarities from a network perspective using both a top-down and a bottom-up approach. In: Psychol Med, S. 1–13. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291715000331.
BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that the structure of psychopathology is best described as a complex network of components that interact in dynamic ways. The goal of the present paper was to examine the concept of psychopathology from a network perspective, combining complementary top-down and bottom-up approaches using momentary assessment techniques. METHOD: A pooled Experience Sampling Method (ESM) dataset of three groups (individuals with a diagnosis of depression, psychotic disorder or no diagnosis) was used (pooled N = 599). The top-down approach explored the network structure of mental states across different diagnostic categories. For this purpose, networks of five momentary mental states (‘cheerful’, ‘content’, ‘down’, ‘insecure’ and ‘suspicious’) were compared between the three groups. The complementary bottom-up approach used principal component analysis to explore whether empirically derived network structures yield meaningful higher order clusters. RESULTS: Individuals with a clinical diagnosis had more strongly connected moment-to-moment network structures, especially the depressed group. This group also showed more interconnections specifically between positive and negative mental states than the psychotic group. In the bottom-up approach, all possible connections between mental states were clustered into seven main components that together captured the main characteristics of the network dynamics. CONCLUSIONS: Our combination of (i) comparing network structure of mental states across three diagnostically different groups and (ii) searching for trans-diagnostic network components across all pooled individuals showed that these two approaches yield different, complementary perspectives in the field of psychopathology. The network paradigm therefore may be useful to map transdiagnostic processes.
Wilson, Michael B.; Kallogjeri, Dorina; Joplin, Conor N.; Gorman, Mitchell D.; Krings, James G.; Lenze, Eric J. et al. (2015): Ecological Momentary Assessment of Tinnitus Using Smartphone Technology: A Pilot Study. In: Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. DOI: 10.1177/0194599815569692.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility of ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) as a tool to more accurately assess the level of bother from tinnitus. STUDY DESIGN: Longitudinal observational study. SETTING: Washington University Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery faculty practice plan. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty participants with moderately to severely bothersome tinnitus were enrolled. All participants owned a smartphone device, and all communications were conducted via email, phone, and text messaging. Participants received 4 EMAs per day for 2 weeks via text message and a final survey on the 15th day. In each survey, participants recorded their level of tinnitus bother, their location at the time of response, their stress level, how they were feeling, and what they were doing. Response rates as a proxy for the feasibility of the program. RESULTS: There were a total of 1120 surveys sent to 20 participants (56 surveys per participant), and 889 (79.4%) of the surveys were completed and returned. The median time to response from the moment of receiving the text message was 7 minutes. The distribution of responses to the EMA question, “In the last 5 minutes, how bothered have you been by your tinnitus?” displayed both high between- and within-subject variability. At the end of 2 weeks, the median score on the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory was 37, with a range of 10 to 82 points; the median Tinnitus Functional Index score was 43, with a range of 10 to 82 points. CONCLUSION: This study suggests bothered tinnitus patients will use smartphones as part of EMA.
Wray, Jennifer M.; Gray, Kevin M.; McClure, Erin A.; Carpenter, Matthew J.; Tiffany, Stephen T.; Saladin, Michael E. (2015): Gender differences in responses to cues presented in the natural environment of cigarette smokers. In: Nicotine Tob Res 17 (4), S. 438–442. DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntu248.
INTRODUCTION: Although the evidence is mixed, female smokers appear to have more difficulty quitting smoking than male smokers. Craving, stress, and negative affect have been hypothesized as potential factors underlying gender differences in quit rates. METHODS: In the current study, the cue-reactivity paradigm was used to assess craving, stress, and negative affect in response to cues presented in the natural environment of cigarette smokers using ecological momentary assessment. Seventy-six daily smokers (42% female) responded to photographs (smoking, stress, and neutral) presented 4 times per day on an iPhone over the course of 2 weeks. RESULTS: Both smoking and stress cues elicited stronger cigarette craving and stress responses compared to neutral cues. Compared with males, females reported higher levels of post-stress cue craving, stress, and negative affect, but response to smoking cues did not differ by gender. DISCUSSION: Findings from this project were largely consistent with results from laboratory-based research and extend previous work by measuring response to cues in the natural environment of cigarette smokers. This study extends previous cue reactivity ecological momentary assessment research by using a new platform and by measuring response to stress cues outside of the laboratory. Findings from this project highlight the importance of addressing coping in response to stress cues in clinical settings, especially when working with female smokers.
Wright, Aidan G. C.; Zimmermann, Johannes (2015): At the nexus of science and practice: Answering basic clinical questions in personality disorder assessment and diagnosis with quantitative modeling techniques. In: Steven K. Huprich und Huprich, Steven K. (Ed) (Hg.): Personality disorders: Toward theoretical and empirical integration in diagnosis and assessment. Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association, S. 109–144.
Thoroughly and accurately assessing and diagnosing personality disorders (PDs) can be a demanding enterprise. Patients with severe PDs often lead chaotic lives and have a fragmented or diffuse sense of self that can become embodied in a frenzied assessment process and a muddled clinical picture. In contrast, milder but nevertheless impairing personality pathology often becomes apparent only as a clinician learns the patient’s characteristic manner of perceiving and responding to others and set ways of regulating self and affect. These difficulties in the assessment process are understandable and to be expected, given the nature of the pathology. However, a further challenge to this enterprise is that the current diagnostic framework more often than not serves to obfuscate as opposed to clarify clinical description. Here we highlight a number of key questions that emerge when the extant PD model is applied in clinical practice, and we demonstrate how they are directly amenable to investigation using contemporary quantitative methodology. First, why do so many patients meet the criteria for multiple PDs or no specific PD (i.e., PD-NOS)? Second, is personality pathology dimensional, categorical, or some hybrid of the two? Third, regardless of whether PD is strictly dimensional, categorical, or a hybrid, a practical issue must be addressed: What is a reasonable diagnostic threshold for PD(s)? Finally, we consider a more basic question not necessarily tied to classification issues in the DSM: What are the important behavioral patterns of PD to track and target for intervention? In the remainder of the chapter, we discuss how contemporary statistical modeling can be brought to bear on these questions practitioners and researchers face when assessing PD. To answer the first three questions, we apply latent variable models to traditional diagnostic information (i.e., cross-sectional interview and self-report data). For the final question, we highlight new insights that have been gleaned from collecting and modeling intensively and repeatedly measured behavior (e.g., daily diary data; ecological momentary assessment).
Yeung, Dannii Y.; Fung, Helene H.; Chan, Darius K. -S. (2015): Positive effect of social work—Related values on work outcomes: The moderating role of age and work situation. In: The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 70B (2), S. 235–246.
Objectives: This study investigated the effect of social work—related values on job performance through job satisfaction and tested whether age and work situation would moderate such associations. Methods: This study consists of two parts: Part 1 is a cross-sectional survey among 299 Chinese clerical employees aged 19–60 years and Part 2 is a 14-day experience sampling study in a subsample of Part 1 (N = 67). Results and Discussion: Part 1 revealed that age moderated the effect of social work—related values on job performance through job satisfaction, with a stronger positive effect in older workers than in younger workers. Part 2 demonstrated that the moderating effect of age shown in Part 1 also varied across work situations. In particular, holding momentary social work—related values was beneficial to the task performance of older workers, and the effect was significantly stronger when they were in social situations than in nonsocial situations, whereas the effect remained weak among younger workers regardless of work context. Moreover, the moderating effect of age could be accounted for by future time perspective. This study supports socioemotional selectivity theory that goal orientation shifts toward the emphasis of interpersonal closeness when one perceives future time as increasingly limited.
Zawadzki, Matthew J.; Smyth, Joshua M.; Costigan, Heather J. (2015): Real-time associations between engaging in leisure and daily health and well-being. In: Annals of Behavioral Medicine. DOI: 10.1007/s12160-015-9694-3.
Background: Engagement in leisure has a wide range of beneficial health effects. Yet, this evidence is derived from between-person methods that do not examine the momentary within-person processes theorized to explain leisure’s benefits.Purpose: This study examined momentary relationships between leisure and health and well-being in daily life.Methods: A community sample (n = 115) completed ecological momentary assessments six times a day for three consecutive days. At each measurement, participants indicated if they were engaging in leisure and reported on their mood, interest/boredom, and stress levels. Next, participants collected a saliva sample for cortisol analyses. Heart rate was assessed throughout the study.Results: Multilevel models revealed that participants had more positive and less negative mood, more interest, less stress, and lower heart rate when engaging in leisure than when not.Conclusions: Results suggest multiple mechanisms explaining leisure’s effectiveness, which can inform leisure-based interventions to improve health and well-being.
Zheng, Yao; Cleveland, H. Harrington; Molenaar, Peter C M; Harris, Kitty S. (2015): An Alternative Framework to Investigating and Understanding Intraindividual Processes in Substance Abuse Recovery: An Idiographic Approach and Demonstration. In: Eval Rev. DOI: 10.1177/0193841X14567313.
BACKGROUND: Sustained recovery from substance abuse is a dynamic intraindividual-level process. OBJECTIVES: We argue that research on recovery process will benefit from a theoretical approach that captures both the dynamic and the idiographic nature of substance abuse recovery. In addition to setting out why we believe that research on recovery can benefit from such an approach, we provide a demonstration of idiographic within-individual analyses of between- and within-day associations among negative affect, substance use craving, and positive social experiences. DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: The data used were drawn from 39 abstinent young adults in 12-step recovery from substance abuse (mean age = 22.9, females = 12). Participants provided an average of 26.7 days of daily diary data by end-of-day collections. Unified first-order structural equation models were fit individually to predict daily levels of craving and negative affect from the previous day’s same two variables as well as from both the previous day’s and the same day’s positive social experiences. RESULTS: Model estimates demonstrated substantial interindividual heterogeneity in their day-to-day associations in both direction and magnitude, highlighting the importance of applying idiographic approach to understanding recovery. Cluster analyses were subsequently applied to individual model estimates to identify homogeneous subgroups that demonstrated similar day-to-day association patterns, revealing two distinct subgroups that appeared to manage daily abstinence through different mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS: The idiographic approach presented provides the potential value of framing recovery as an idiosyncratic dynamic process and provides targets for tailored and adaptive treatment and recovery supporting intervention in future design and evaluation.