Search

Introduction: Delayed responses are a common yet often overlooked aspect of participant compliance in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) research. This study investigated whether response delays introduce selection bias in the moments captured by EMA. Methods: Participants (n = 339) self-reported their physical activity behaviors using EMA five times a day over 7 days while wearing a continuous physical activity monitor. The continuous activity monitor data provided an objective reference value to evaluate potential biases in delayed EMA self-reports. Results: Results showed that participants were significantly more likely to delay EMA responses when they were prompted during higher levels of physical activity, and they subsequently reduced their activity levels, postponing their response until they were in a significantly less active state. There was no significant evidence that response delays systematically biased the levels of EMA reported activities, although delayed responses were associated with significantly more random errors in EMA reports (with small effect sizes). Discussion: The results suggest that respondents self-select the moments for answering EMA surveys based on their current activity levels, but brief response delays do not translate into marked reductions in the quality of EMA data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Network models hold much promise for use in the form of personalized feedback, which the TheraNet Project aims to investigate. In the present study, we share therapists' first reactions to patient network models based on ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data. Method: Therapists (N = 24) were taught to interpret the network models based on their patient's data. They were provided with concrete use suggestions at the end of the workshop. The workshops were analysed using descriptive qualitative content analysis. The resulting codes were then grouped thematically. Results: Therapists spoke about using the networks for "case conceptualization", "therapy planning", and "psychoeducation", but also commented on the "study design". Before the concrete suggestions, therapists most frequently voiced thoughts on its uses for "case conceptualization". After the suggestions, "psychoeducation" was mentioned most frequently. Conclusions: Therapists intuitively connected network models to case conceptualizations. Once concrete suggestions were provided, therapists more frequently discussed networks as psychoeducative tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encouraging engagement in rewarding or pleasant activities is one of the most important treatment goals for depression. Mental imagery exercises have been shown to increase the motivation for planned behaviour in the lab but it is unclear whether this is also the case in daily life. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effect of mental imagery exercises on motivation and behaviour in daily life. Participants with depressive symptoms (N = 59) were randomly assigned to a group receiving mental imagery (MI) exercises or a control group receiving relaxation (RE) exercises via study phones. We employed an experience sampling design with 10 assessments per day for 10 days (three days baseline, four days with two exercises per day and three days post‐intervention). Data was analysed using t‐tests and multilevel linear regression analyses. As predicted, MI exercises enhanced motivation and reward anticipation during the intervention phase compared to RE. However, MI did not enhance active behaviour or strengthen the temporal association from reward anticipation (t‐1) to active behaviour (t). Mental imagery exercises can act as a motivational amplifier but its effects on behaviour and real‐life reward processes remain to be elucidated. Practitioner points: Mental imagery exercises for planned activities are feasible in daily life.Mental imagery exercises can increase motivation to perform an activity.It remains unclear whether and how mental imagery exercises can influence behaviour in daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Objectives This study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using EMA questionnaires and physiological data via wristbands to measure day-to-day occupational stress, musculoskeletal pain, and mental health among university employees (N = 23), across 10 work days. Adherence to the study protocol as well as participant experiences (via semi-structured interviews) with the protocol were used to assess feasibility and acceptability of the method. Results Adherence to the study protocol was excellent. Participants wore the wristband for a mean of 9.7 days. Participants completed a mean of 24.5 EMAs (out of 30). Semi-structured interviews with participants revealed that a small number of participants had difficulties uploading data from the wristband. The timing of EMAs was challenging for some participants, resulting in missed EMAs, raising questions about whether EMA frequency and timing could be changed to improve adherence. Some EMA items were difficult to answer due to the nature of participants’ roles and the work undertaken. Overall, the protocol was feasible and acceptable but highlighted future potential changes including using a different physiological data collection tool, reducing the number of EMAs, adjusting EMA timings, and reviewing EMA items.

Background: Previous studies assessing shift workers' behaviours have mainly used self-report recall questionnaires, however these measures don't always account for variations in work schedules. Alternative methods that allow for real-time assessments tailored to capture variations in work patterns might provide more accurate measures of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB). Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), which provides real-time evaluations of PA and SB in shift workers. A secondary aim was to compare shift workers and non-shift worker responses. Methods: Participants (n = 120; 58% female, mean Mage=36.0), included 69 shift workers and 51 non-shift workers. After downloading the EMA app, shift workers received either interval-contingent tailored (SW-T) or standardized EMA prompts (SW-S) over 7–10 days, while non-shift workers received standardized prompts (NSW-S) for seven days. Prompts were scheduled five times daily, every three hours. The EMA survey asked participants to report their current activity, including type, duration, and location of physical activity and sitting. Feasibility was assessed by analysing recruitment, retention, and compliance rates (EMA surveys completed) across SW-T, SW-S, and NSW-S groups. Results: Approximately 78% of invited workers enrolled, and all enrolled workers completed at least one prompt on 4 out 7 days in the NSW-S and 7 out of 10 days in the SW group. Workers who chose not to participate reported unwillingness to travel for meetings (n = 14), while others did not respond (n = 20). Participants completed an average of 24 surveys per day, each one taking less than 30 s to complete. Overall, 64% of EMA surveys were started and completed. SW-S completed the least prompts (57%), while SW-T and NSW-S completed 64% and 68%, respectively (p = 0.90). On average, workers missed 36% EMA surveys which was similar for SW and NSW (p = 0.05). Conclusion: Our study represents one of the few studies that has used EMA in the shift work population with adaptation to shift schedules. The findings showed a modest compliance to EMA. Strategies are needed to enhance compliance rates. However, EMA shows promise for capturing real-time behaviours in shift workers' natural work environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of using EMA questionnaires and physiological data via wristbands to measure day-to-day occupational stress, musculoskeletal pain, and mental health among university employees (N = 23), across 10 work days. Adherence to the study protocol as well as participant experiences (via semi-structured interviews) with the protocol were used to assess feasibility and acceptability of the method. Results: Adherence to the study protocol was excellent. Participants wore the wristband for a mean of 9.7 days. Participants completed a mean of 24.5 EMAs (out of 30). Semi-structured interviews with participants revealed that a small number of participants had difficulties uploading data from the wristband. The timing of EMAs was challenging for some participants, resulting in missed EMAs, raising questions about whether EMA frequency and timing could be changed to improve adherence. Some EMA items were difficult to answer due to the nature of participants' roles and the work undertaken. Overall, the protocol was feasible and acceptable but highlighted future potential changes including using a different physiological data collection tool, reducing the number of EMAs, adjusting EMA timings, and reviewing EMA items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, behavioral, social, and health science researchers have relied on global/retrospective survey methods administered cross-sectionally (i.e., on a single occasion) or longitudinally (i.e., on several occasions separated by weeks, months, or years). More recently, social and health scientists have added daily life survey methods (also known as intensive longitudinal methods or ambulatory assessment) to their toolkit. These methods (e.g., daily diaries, experience sampling, ecological momentary assessment) involve dense repeated assessments in everyday settings. To facilitate research using daily life survey methods, we present SEMA3 (http://www.SEMA3.com), a platform for designing and administering intensive longitudinal daily life surveys via Android and iOS smartphones. SEMA3 fills an important gap by providing researchers with a free, intuitive, and flexible platform with basic and advanced functionality. In this article, we describe SEMA3's development history and system architecture, provide an overview of how to design a study using SEMA3 and outline its key features, and discuss the platform's limitations and propose directions for future development of SEMA3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The network approach to psychopathology posits that mental disorders emerge from dynamic interactions among psychopathology‐relevant variables. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is frequently used to assess these variables in daily life. Considering the transdiagnostic nature of the network approach to psychopathology, this study describes the development of a transdiagnostic EMA protocol for psychopathology. Methods: First, 96 clinicians completed an online survey, providing three EMA constructs for up to three disorders they specialize in, and three EMA constructs relevant across disorders (transdiagnostic constructs). Second, 12 focus groups were conducted with clinical experts for specific types of diagnoses (e.g., mood disorders, anxiety disorders). Finally, a selection of items was reached by consensus. Two raters independently coded the online survey responses with an inter‐rater agreement of 87.3%. Results: Jaccard indices showed up to 52.6% overlap in EMA items across types of diagnoses. The most frequently reported transdiagnostic constructs were mood, sleep quality, and stress. A final set of EMA items is created based on items' frequency and informativeness, ensuring completeness across diagnoses and minimizing burden. Conclusions: The described procedure resulted in a feasible EMA protocol to examine psychopathology transdiagnostically. Feasibility was helped by the overlap in mentioned symptoms across disorders. Such overlap raises questions about the validity of DSM categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way individuals handle daily stressors can significantly influence their mental health. Those who struggle with emotion regulation are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of stress. This study explored the role of catastrophizing, a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy, in shaping the relationships between daily stress responses and depressive symptoms. A total of 75 healthy college students participated in the study. We adopted an Ecological Momentary Assessment protocol over 14 consecutive days to capture the day‐to‐day dynamics of stress reactivity and recovery. Our findings indicate that individuals with higher levels of catastrophizing exhibited increased daily stress reactivity and delayed daily stress recovery, consequently raising their likelihood of experiencing amplified depressive symptoms. In contrast, those with lower levels of catastrophizing did not experience the same negative effects of increased daily stress reactivity on their mental health. These results enhance understanding of how real‐life stressors contribute to the development of mental health issues and underscore the importance of adaptive emotion regulation for improved overall health and well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionDelayed responses are a common yet often overlooked aspect of participant compliance in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) research. This study investigated whether response delays introduce selection bias in the moments captured by EMA.MethodsParticipants (n = 339) self-reported their physical activity behaviors using EMA five times a day over 7 days while wearing a continuous physical activity monitor. The continuous activity monitor data provided an objective reference value to evaluate potential biases in delayed EMA self-reports.ResultsResults showed that participants were significantly more likely to delay EMA responses when they were prompted during higher levels of physical activity, and they subsequently reduced their activity levels, postponing their response until they were in a significantly less active state. There was no significant evidence that response delays systematically biased the levels of EMA reported activities, although delayed responses were associated with significantly more random errors in EMA reports (with small effect sizes).DiscussionThe results suggest that respondents self-select the moments for answering EMA surveys based on their current activity levels, but brief response delays do not translate into marked reductions in the quality of EMA data.

ObjectivesMicrointeraction-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (micro-EMA) is a smartwatch-based tool that delivers single-question surveys, enabling respondents to quickly report their real-time experiences. The objectives of the two studies presented here were to evaluate micro-EMA's psychometric characteristics and feasibility across three response formats (2-point, 5-point, and 10-point scales) for adults with hearing loss.DesignIn the first study, thirty-two participants completed a dual-task experiment aimed at assessing the construct validity, responsiveness, intrusiveness, and test-retest reliability of micro-EMA across the three response formats. Participants listened to sentences at five signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) ranging from −3 to 9 dB relative to the SNR for 50% speech understanding, answered the question “Hearing well?” on smartwatches, and repeated the sentences. In the second study, twenty-one participants wore smartwatches over 6 days. Every 15 min, participants were prompted to answer the question “Hearing well?” using one of the three response formats for 2 days. Participants provided feedback on their experience with micro-EMA.ResultsIn the dual-task experiment, participants reported improved hearing performance in micro-EMA as SNRs and speech recognition scores increased across all three response formats, supporting the tool's construct validity. Statistical models indicated that the 5-point and 10-point scales yielded larger relative changes between SNRs, suggesting higher responsiveness, compared to the 2-point scale. Participants completed surveys significantly faster with the 2-point scale, indicating lower intrusiveness, compared to the 5-point and 10-point scales. Correlation analysis revealed that over two visits 1 week apart, the 2-point scale had the poorest test-retest reliability, while the 5-point scale had the highest. In the field trial, participants completed 79.6% of the prompted surveys, with each participant averaging 42.9 surveys per day. Although participants experienced interruptions due to frequent prompts, annoyance and distraction levels were low. Most participants preferred the 5-point scale.ConclusionsThe dual-task experiment suggested that micro-EMA using the 5-point scale demonstrated superior psychometric characteristics compared to the 2-point and 10-point scales at the tested SNRs. The field trial further supported its feasibility for evaluating hearing performance in adults with hearing loss. Additional research is needed to explore the potential applications of micro-EMA in audiology research.

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are seen as a continuum ranging from goal‐directed and hedonic drug use to loss of control over drug intake with aversive consequences for mental and physical health and social functioning. The main goals of our interdisciplinary German collaborative research centre on Losing and Regaining Control over Drug Intake (ReCoDe) are (i) to study triggers (drug cues, stressors, drug priming) and modifying factors (age, gender, physical activity, cognitive functions, childhood adversity, social factors, such as loneliness and social contact/interaction) that longitudinally modulate the trajectories of losing and regaining control over drug consumption under real‐life conditions. (ii) To study underlying behavioural, cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms of disease trajectories and drug‐related behaviours and (iii) to provide non‐invasive mechanism‐based interventions. These goals are achieved by: (A) using innovative mHealth (mobile health) tools to longitudinally monitor the effects of triggers and modifying factors on drug consumption patterns in real life in a cohort of 900 patients with alcohol use disorder. This approach will be complemented by animal models of addiction with 24/7 automated behavioural monitoring across an entire disease trajectory; i.e. from a naïve state to a drug‐taking state to an addiction or resilience‐like state. (B) The identification and, if applicable, computational modelling of key molecular, neurobiological and psychological mechanisms (e.g., reduced cognitive flexibility) mediating the effects of such triggers and modifying factors on disease trajectories. (C) Developing and testing non‐invasive interventions (e.g., Just‐In‐Time‐Adaptive‐Interventions (JITAIs), various non‐invasive brain stimulations (NIBS), individualized physical activity) that specifically target the underlying mechanisms for regaining control over drug intake. Here, we will report on the most important results of the first funding period and outline our future research strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Hypotheses Affective recovery, operationalized as the time needed for affect to return to baseline levels after daily stressors, may be a putative momentary representation of resilience. This study aimed to investigate affective recovery in positive and negative affect across subclinical and clinical stages of psychosis and whether this is associated with exposure to childhood trauma (sexual, physical, and emotional abuse). Study Design We used survival analysis to predict the time-to-recovery from a daily event-related stressor in a pooled sample of 3 previously conducted experience sampling studies including 113 individuals with first-episode psychosis, 162 at-risk individuals, and 94 controls. Study Results Negative affective recovery (ie, return to baseline following an increase in negative affect) was longer in individuals with first-episode psychosis compared with controls (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.71, 95% confidence interval [CI; 1.03, 2.61], P  = .04) and in at-risk individuals exposed to high vs low levels of emotional abuse (HR = 1.31, 95% CI [1.06, 1.62], P  = .01). Positive affective recovery (ie, return to baseline following a decrease in positive affect) did not differ between groups and was not associated with childhood trauma. Conclusions Our results give first indications that negative affective recovery may be a putative momentary representation of resilience across stages of psychosis and may be amplified in at-risk individuals with prior experiences of emotional abuse. Understanding how affective recovery contributes to the development of psychosis may help identify new targets for prevention and intervention to buffer risk or foster resilience in daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature indicates that academic staff experience increasing levels of work stress. This study investigated associations between day‐to‐day threat and challenge appraisal and day‐to‐day problem‐focused coping, emotion‐focused coping, and seeking social support among academic office workers. This study is based on an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) design with a 15‐working day data collection period utilising our self‐developed STRAW smartphone application. A total of 55 office workers from academic institutions in Belgium (n = 29) and Slovenia (n = 26) were included and 3665 item measurements were analysed. Participants were asked approximately every 90 min about their appraisal of stressful events (experienced during the working day) and their coping styles. For data analysis, we used an unstructured covariance matrix in our linear mixed models. Challenge appraisal predicted problem‐focused coping and threat appraisal predicted emotion‐focused coping. Our findings suggest an association between threat appraisal as well as challenge appraisal and seeking social support. Younger and female workers chose social support more often as a coping style. While working from home, participants were less likely to seek social support. The findings of our EMA study confirm previous research on the relationship between stress appraisal and coping with stress. Participants reported seeking social support less while working from home compared to working at the office, making the work location an aspect that deserves further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the criterion validity of an ecological momentary assessment (EMA)-reported physical activity and sedentary time compared with accelerometry in shift workers and non-shift workers. Australian workers (n = 102) received prompts through a mobile EMA app and wore the Actigraph accelerometer on the right hip for 7–10 days. Participants received five EMA prompts per day at 3-hour intervals on their mobile phones. EMA prompts sent to shift workers (SW-T) were tailored according to their work schedule. Non-shift workers (NSW-S) received prompts at standardised times. To assess criterion validity, the association of EMA-reported activities and the Actigraph accelerometer activity counts and number of steps were used. Participants were 36 ± 11 years and 58% were female. On occasions where participants reported physical activity, acceleration counts per minute (CPM) and steps were significantly higher (β = 1184 CPM, CI 95%: 1034, 1334; β = 20.9 steps, CI 95%: 18.2, 23.6) than each of the other EMA activities. Acceleration counts and steps were lower when sitting was reported than when no sitting was reported by EMA. Our study showed that EMA-reported physical activity and sedentary time was significantly associated with accelerometer-derived data. Therefore, EMA can be considered to assess shift workers' movement-related behaviours with accelerometers to provide rich contextual data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionUnderstanding hearing aid wearer experiences in real-world settings is important to provide responsive and individualized hearing care. This study aimed to describe real-life benefits of hearing aids (HAs), as reported by hearing aid wearers through Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) in various listening environments.MethodQualitative content analysis of 1,209 open-text responses, provided through self-initiated EMAs, was conducted. The de-identified data was collected retrospectively via a smartphone app compatible with these HAs. Only text responses reflecting positive hearing aid experiences were analyzed. The 1,209 open-text responses were categorized into 18 pre-determined sub-categories, further organized into five overarching categories: Conversational, Leisure, Device-related aspects, Lifestyle, and Other factors.ResultsAcross these categories, 48 self-generated meaning units highlighted the multifaceted benefits of HAs. In particular, participants reported significant improvements in conversational settings, specifically during phone conversations and meetings, attributed to improved sound quality and speech understanding when wearing their HAs. During leisure activities, particularly TV watching and music listening, clearer sound and ease of Bluetooth streaming contributed to experienced benefits. Lifestyle improvements were reported in occupational and social settings, as hearing aid wearers stated enhanced communication and sound awareness. Device-related factors contributing to positive wearer experiences included extended battery life and the convenience of rechargeable batteries. The most prominent sub-category, other factors, underscored overall satisfaction, comfort with the device, and improved auditory experiences across various environments.ConclusionThis study reveals the diverse benefits of HAs in improving communication, listening experiences, and quality of life across various settings, as captured through EMA. By emphasizing features like direct streaming and rechargeability, the findings highlight the importance of personalized hearing care and the potential of real-time listener feedback to inform device enhancements and support strategies, advancing more tailored and effective hearing rehabilitation.

Lifestyle factors—such as diet, physical activity (PA), smoking, and alcohol consumption—have a significant impact on mortality as well as healthcare costs. Moreover, they play a crucial role in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). There also seems to be a link between lifestyle behaviours and insulin resistance, which is often a precursor of DM2. This study uses an enhanced Healthy Living Index (HLI) integrating accelerometric data and an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to explore differences in lifestyle between insulin-sensitive (IS) and insulin-resistant (IR) individuals. Moreover, it explores the association between lifestyle behaviours and inflammation. Analysing data from 99 participants of the mPRIME study (57 women and 42 men; mean age 49.8 years), we calculated HLI scores—ranging from 0 to 4— based on adherence to specific low-risk lifestyle behaviours, including non-smoking, adhering to a healthy diet, maximally moderate alcohol consumption, and meeting World Health Organization (WHO) PA guidelines. Insulin sensitivity was assessed using a Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were used as a proxy for inflammation. Lifestyle behaviours, represented by HLI scores, were significantly different between IS and IR individuals (U = 1529.0; p = 0.023). The difference in the HLI score between IR and IS individuals was mainly driven by lower adherence to PA recommendations in the IR group. Moreover, reduced PA was linked to increased CRP levels in the IR group (r = −0.368, p = 0.014). Our findings suggest that enhancing PA, especially among individuals with impaired insulin resistance, holds significant promise as a preventive strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionVestibular disorders have a high prevalence and impact on general health. Currently questionnaires to measure vestibular symptoms and the impact on daily life, do not capture disease-specific symptoms or induce recall bias. The DizzyQuest was introduced, to measure vestibular symptoms in the flow of daily life, using the ecological momentary assessment (EMA) strategy. The development and content validity of the DizzyQuest are described in this article.MethodsThe development process consisted of two stages: First, the development of a concept version of the DizzyQuest based on the conceptual model of positive health, semi-structured interviews with patients diagnosed with bilateral vestibulopathy (BV) and expert input. Second, the assessment of content validity through a 4-week pilot trial, followed by focus group meetings with patients and professionals separately.ResultsPatient interviews, an expert meeting and a conceptual model resulted in the first pilot version of the DizzyQuest, which included a morning-, within-day-, evening- and attack-questionnaire. To report patient characteristics, complimentary patient- and doctor-questionnaires were added. The pilot trial (N = 5) and two patient focus group meetings resulted in multiple suggestions for response options. Two professional focus group meetings provided recommendations for sampling time and sampling schedule. As a result, two versions of the DizzyQuest were developed, consisting of a regular DizzyQuest (DQ) and an extended DizzyQuest-XL (DQ-XL).ConclusionThe DizzyQuest enables the administration of multiple questionnaires during the flow of daily life, therefore increasing reliability and ecological validity. The DQ and DQ-XL, using a big data approach, has the potential to improve precision medicine.

Background: Psychological resilience, as a potential protective factor, has been linked to enhanced wellbeing and reduced psychopathology. This study investigated the predictors, associations, and prospective effects of resilience to daily hassles in both short-term (across days) and long-term (across months) contexts. Methods: Daily resilience was measured through self-reported abilities to cope with daily hassles on a day-to-day basis for 30 days using Experience Sampling Methods in a sample of 86 outpatients diagnosed with depression. Results: Daily resilience correlated with baseline depression (r = -0.31; p < .001), but not with the five other personal and social resources we investigated. As hypothesized, daily resilience co-varied with daily wellbeing on a day-to-day basis (p =

BACKGROUND: People with psychotic disorders are at an increased risk of suicide, but there is little understanding of suicidal ideation (SI) in this population. The Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide posits that perceived burdensomeness (PB) and thwarted belonginess (TB) contribute to SI. To our knowledge there are no studies using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to assess these interpersonal risk factors in a sample of individuals with psychotic disorders. This study investigated the validity and variability of PB and TB, and whether SI, EMA-measured psychotic symptoms, mood, and social context relate to PB and TB. METHOD: Ninety-six participants with a psychotic disorder, including mood disorders with psychosis completed in-lab assessments of current SI, and then EMA surveys on a smartphone 3×/day for 10 days, answering questions about burdensomeness, belongingness, symptoms (i.e., hearing voices, experiencing suspiciousness), mood (i.e., happy, sad), and social context. RESULTS: Burdensomeness varied within-participants less than belongingness (t (95) = -3.74, p=< .001). Participants with SI had higher mean burdensomeness ratings (t (94) = -2.70, p < .01) and lower mean belongingness ratings (t (94) = 3.68, p < .001) than did participants without SI. Being with others, greater psychotic experiences, less happiness, and greater sadness related to greater burdensomeness. SI status, being alone, greater psychotic experiences, less happiness, and greater sadness related to less belongingness. CONCLUSIONS: This study examined the real-time influences of SI and psychotic symptoms on burdensomeness and belongingness. Hearing voices, suspiciousness, mood, and SI are related to interpersonal suicide-related risk factors. In this sample, social context had a differential effect on burdensomeness and belongingness.

Background: The association between anxious mood and aberrant fear learning mechanisms has not been fully elucidated. Studying how fear conditioning and extinction constructs relate to anxiety symptoms and reactivity to stressful and benign moments in everyday life provides a powerful addition to experimental paradigms. Method: Fifty-one young adults completed laboratory-based differential conditioning and extinction tasks with (CS +) and without (CS-) an aversive unconditional stimulus (US). Electrodermal skin conductance responses were measured during each phase, followed by ecological momentary assessment (EMA) tapping anxiety and stressors six times daily for seven days (2, 142 moments). Results: Conditioned electrodermal reactivity to the CS + and overgeneralisation to the CS- were associated with greater change in anxiety (measured via EMA), across non-stressful situations, remaining the same across stressful situations. Likewise, during extinction when the CS + is now safe, more electrodermal reactivity to the CS + was associated with more anxiety change across non-stressful situations and remained the same across stressful situations. Also, during extinction when threat is absent, more electrodermal reactivity at the late stage of the CS- was associated with less momentary anxiety change in response to stressful situations; more electrodermal activity at the late stage of the CS + was associated with more anxiety change across non-stressful situations and remained the same across stressful situations. Conclusions: Sampling 'in vivo' emotion and stress experiences, study findings revealed links between conditioned electrodermal reactivity and overgeneralisation to safe stimuli and heightened anxious reactivity during non-stressful (i.e. safe) moments in daily life, coupled with less change in response to actual stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prospective memory, the ability to remember an intention at the appropriate future moment, is often investigated in the laboratory to maximize experimental control. However, demands of laboratory prospective memory tasks only partly map onto everyday demands. Therefore, it is an open question whether factors which predict prospective memory in the laboratory also predict prospective memory in the real world. We combined diary and ecological momentary assessment methods to investigate which factors, that have been repeatedly shown to predict prospective memory performance in laboratory tasks, are related to the fulfillment of everyday intentions. Results showed that substantial portions of variance in real-world prospective memory performance could be explained with the factors found to be significant in laboratory. The most powerful predictors were perceived intention importance, the use of external memory aids, delay interval, and conscientiousness. However, some meaningful laboratory predictors (e.g., working memory) played only a minor role in natural environments and a large portion of the variance in everyday intention fulfillment remained unexplained. The results substantially extend the understanding of conditions and personality variables most conducive to remembering intentions, but they also suggest that additional factors influencing real-world prospective memory remain to be discovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing the fatigue of construction workers is crucial to productivity, quality of work, and accident risk reduction. However, the current practice for assessing fatigue is limited when applied to construction sites. This study proposed a framework to objectively and subjectively evaluate construction workers' fatigue in real-time using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) application and smartwatch data. Fatigue data were collected from 100 construction workers over three days. The results revealed that objective fatigue factors (heart rate and physical activity) were easily affected by the characteristics of the construction field (i.e., starting early, changing and demanding schedules, and overworking hours), whereas subjective fatigue steadily increased with working time. Most workers were aware of physical fatigue at the end of work for the day, when the EMA scores were the highest in a day. However, objective and subjective fatigue did not completely concur throughout the work period. Our findings are expected to improve the management of construction site health and safety with priority given to construction workers. The proposed framework, which utilizes EMA and wearable devices as a fatigue assessment method, reflects the comprehensive aspect of work-related fatigue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about the factors that bias event-based (i.e., self-initiated) reporting of health behaviors in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) due to the difficulty inherent to tracking failures to self-initiate reports. Purpose: To introduce a real-time method for identifying the predictors of noncompliance with event-based reporting. Methods: N = 410 adults who used both cigarettes and e-cigarettes completed a 1-week EMA protocol that combined random reporting of current contexts with event-based reporting of tobacco use. Each random assessment first asked if participants were currently using tobacco and, if so, the assessment converted into a "randomly captured" event report—indicating failure to self-initiate that report. Multilevel modeling tested predictors of failing to complete random reports and failing to self-initiate event reports. Results: On the person level, male sex, higher average cigarette rate, and higher average cigarette urge each predicted missing random reports. The person-level predictors of failing to self-initiate event reports were older age, higher average cigarette and e-cigarette rates, higher average cigarette urge, and being alone more on average; the moment-level predictors were lower cigarette urge, lower positive affect, alcohol use, and cannabis use. Strikingly, the randomly captured events comprised more of the total EMA reports (28%) than did the self-initiated event reports (24%). These report types were similar across most variables, with some exceptions, such as momentary cannabis use predicting the random capture of tobacco events. Conclusions: This study demonstrated a method of identifying predictors of noncompliance with event-based reporting of tobacco use and enhancing the real-time capture of events. This study demonstrated a real-time method for identifying person- and moment-level predictors of failing to self-initiate tobacco event reports during ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and for capturing a large number of events that would have likely otherwise been missed. Lay Summary: This study introduced a real-time method for identifying person- and moment-level predictors of failing to self-initiate tobacco event reports during ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and for capturing a large number of events that would have likely otherwise been missed. The method has implications for behavioral health research more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Hypothesis Digital interventions targeting transdiagnostic mechanisms in daily life may be a promising translational strategy for prevention and early intervention of psychotic and other severe mental disorders. We aimed to investigate the feasibility and initial signals of efficacy of a transdiagnostic, compassion-focused, hybrid ecological momentary intervention for improving resilience (ie, EMIcompass) in youth with early mental health problems. Study Design In an exploratory, assessor-blind randomized controlled trial, youth aged 14–25 with current distress, broad at-risk mental state, or first episode of severe mental disorder were randomly allocated to experimental (EMIcompass+treatment as usual [TAU]) or control condition (TAU). Data on primary (stress reactivity) and secondary candidate mechanisms as well as candidate primary (psychological distress) and secondary outcomes were collected. Study Results Criteria for the feasibility of trial methodology and intervention delivery were met (n = 92 randomized participants). No serious adverse events were observed. Initial outcome signals were evident for reduced momentary stress reactivity (stress×time×condition, B = −0.10 95%CI −0.16–−0.03, d = −0.10), aberrant salience (condition, B = −0.38, 95%CI −0.57–−0.18, d = −0.56) as well as enhanced momentary resilience (condition, B = 0.55, 95%CI 0.18–0.92, d = 0.33) and quality of life (condition, B = 0.82, 95%CI 0.10–1.55, d = 0.60) across post-intervention and 4-week follow-up. No outcome signals were observed for self-reported psychological distress (condition, B = 0.57, 95%CI −1.59–2.72, d = 0.09), but there was suggestive evidence of reduced observer-rated symptoms at the 4-week follow-up (B = −1.41, 95%CI −2.85–0.02, d = −0.41). Conclusions Our findings provide evidence of feasibility and initial signals that EMIcompass may reduce stress reactivity and improve quality of life. A definitive trial is now warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionIn recent years, the widespread shift from on-site to remote work has led to a decline in employees’ mental health. Consequently, this transition to remote work poses several challenges for both employees and employers. To address these challenges, there is an urgent need for techniques to detect declining mental health in employees’ daily lives. Emotion-based health assessment, which examines emotional diversity (emodiversity) experienced in daily life, is a possible solution. However, the feasibility of emodiversity remains unclear, especially from the perspectives of its applicability to remote workers and countries other than Europe and the United States. This study investigated the association between subjective mental health decline and emotional factors, such as emodiversity, as well as physical conditions, in remote workers in Japan.MethodTo explore this association, we conducted a consecutive 14-day prospective observational experiment on 18 Japanese remote workers. This experiment comprised pre-and post-questionnaire surveys, physiological sensing, daytime emotion self-reports, and subjective health reports at end-of-day. In daytime emotion self-reports, we introduced smartphone-based experience sampling (also known as ecological momentary assessment), which is suitable for collecting context-dependent self-reports precisely in a recall bias-less manner. For 17 eligible participants (mean ± SD, 39.1 ± 9.1 years), we evaluated whether and how the psycho-physical characteristics, including emodiversity, changed on subjective mental health-declined experimental days after analyzing descriptive statistics.ResultsApproximately half of the experimental days (46.3 ± 18.9%) were conducted under remote work conditions. Our analysis showed that physical and emotional indices significantly decreased on mental health-declined days. Especially on high anxiety and depressive days, we found that emodiversity indicators significantly decreased (global emodiversity on anxiety conditions, 0.409 ± 0.173 vs. 0.366 ± 0.143, p = 0.041), and positive emotional experiences were significantly suppressed (61.5 ± 7.7 vs. 55.5 ± 6.4, p

IntroductionEcological momentary assessment (EMA)-based smoking cessation intervention may help personalize intervention for smokers who prefer to quit smoking unaided. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of EMA-based phone counseling and instant messaging for smoking cessation.Methods/designThis is a two-arm, accessor-blinded, simple individual randomized controlled trial (allocation ratio 1:1). Participants will be recruited from community sites and online platforms in Hong Kong. Interventions will be delivered via a phone call and instant messaging. Current adult smokers who (1) self-report no intention to use smoking cessation services and medication in the coming month and (2) have not used smoking cessation services or nicotine replacement therapy in the past 7 days will be recruited. Recruited participants will be randomized to intervention or control groups via an online randomizer. All participants will be required to complete EMAs (five times per day for 7 consecutive days). The intervention group (n = 220) will receive a nurse-led brief phone counseling immediately after the 1-week EMAs and 10-week EMA-based advice via instant messaging applications (e.g., WhatsApp, WeChat). The 10-week EMA-based advice covers a summary of the 1-week EMAs, and tailored cessation support focused on personalized smoking triggers. The control group (n = 220) will not receive any intervention during the same period. The primary outcomes are participants' progression toward smoking cessation assessed by the Incremental Behavior Change toward Smoking Cessation (IBC-S) and biochemically validated abstinence at the 3-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes include self-reported and biochemically validated tobacco abstinence at the 6-month follow-up.DiscussionThe findings will provide evidence that the EMA-based tailored smoking cessation intervention can be adapted as a new health promotion strategy for current smokers who are unwilling to use smoking cessation aids.Clinical trial registrationhttps://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05212220, identifier: NCT05212220.

Background: The growing number of patients with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes is a major public health concern. Physical activity is a cornerstone of diabetes management and may prevent its onset in prediabetes patients. Despite this, many patients with (pre)diabetes remain physically inactive. Primary care physicians are well-situated to deliver interventions to increase their patients' physical activity levels. However, effective and sustainable physical activity interventions for (pre)diabetes patients that can be translated into routine primary care are lacking. Methods: We describe the rationale and protocol for a 12-month pragmatic, multicentre, randomised, controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of an mHealth intervention delivered in general practice to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour of patients with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (ENERGISED). Twenty-one general practices will recruit 340 patients with (pre)diabetes during routine health check-ups. Patients allocated to the active control arm will receive a Fitbit activity tracker to self-monitor their daily steps and try to achieve the recommended step goal. Patients allocated to the intervention arm will additionally receive the mHealth intervention, including the delivery of several text messages per week, with some of them delivered just in time, based on data continuously collected by the Fitbit tracker. The trial consists of two phases, each lasting six months: the lead-in phase, when the mHealth intervention will be supported with human phone counselling, and the maintenance phase, when the intervention will be fully automated. The primary outcome, average ambulatory activity (steps/day) measured by a wrist-worn accelerometer, will be assessed at the end of the maintenance phase at 12 months. Discussion: The trial has several strengths, such as the choice of active control to isolate the net effect of the intervention beyond simple self-monitoring with an activity tracker, broad eligibility criteria allowing for the inclusion of patients without a smartphone, procedures to minimise selection bias, and involvement of a relatively large number of general practices. These design choices contribute to the trial's pragmatic character and ensure that the intervention, if effective, can be translated into routine primary care practice, allowing important public health benefits. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05351359, 28/04/2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We investigated relations between day-to-day job demands, job control, job strain, social support at work, and day-to-day work–life interference among office workers in academia. Methods: This study is based on a 15-working day data collection period using an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) implemented in our self-developed STRAW smartphone application. We recruited office workers from two academic settings in Belgium and Slovenia. Participants were repeatedly asked to complete EMAs including work stressors and work interfering with personal life (WIPL) as well as personal life interfering with work (PLIW). We applied fixed-effect model testing with random intercepts to investigate within- and between-participant levels. Results: We included 55 participants with 2261 analyzed observations in this study. Our data showed that researchers with a PhD reported higher WIPL compared to administrative and technical staff (β = 0.37, p < 0.05). We found significant positive associations between job demands (β = 0.53, p < 0.001), job control (β = 0.19, p < 0.01), and job strain (β = 0.61, p < 0.001) and WIPL. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction effect between job control and social support at work on WIPL (β = − 0.24, p < 0.05). Additionally, a significant negative association was found between job control and PLIW (β = − 0.20, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Based on our EMA study, higher job demands and job strain were correlated with higher WIPL. Furthermore, we found associations going in opposite directions; higher job control was correlated with higher WIPL and lower PLIW. Higher job control leading to higher imbalance stands out as a novel result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dysfunctional expectations and interpersonal problems are associated with depression, so we measured expected emotions towards interaction partners and compared them with actual emotions. We hypothesized that, between persons, individuals with higher subclinical depression would display stronger, more stable, and less accurate negative expectations. Within persons, we hypothesized that momentary negative expectations would predict subsequent negative affect. Fifty-three students completed 6 days of Experience Sampling, consisting of one morning expectation-assessment (9 am), three assessments on actual interpersonal emotions (1 pm, 5 pm, 9 pm), and six random affect-assessments. We regressed expected emotions, experienced emotions, expectation fluctuations, and expectation violations on subclinical depression. Using mixed model analyses, we further examined whether negative expectations preceded negative affect, and whether expectation violations preceded adjustments of expectations. Higher subclinical depression predicted more negative expectations. Within persons, worse-than-expected interpersonal interactions preceded negative affect whereas better-than-expected interactions preceded reductions of negative expectations. Despite problems with skewed data, our approach appears well-suited to examine interpersonal expectations in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disordered eating behavior has been linked to suboptimal weight outcomes following metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS), thereby threatening the most efficacious treatment for severe obesity. While up to 40% of patients may experience loss of control (LOC) eating following MBS, mechanisms driving this behavior are not fully understood. Preliminary evidence suggests that high levels of negative affect (NA) in the moment prompt LOC eating post-MBS; however, it remains unclear whether this momentary relationship is stable or changes over the first several years following surgery. Consequently, this study examined differences in the prospective relationship between NA and LOC eating severity over time post-MBS using three waves of ecological momentary assessment data collection. Participants (n = 143, 87% female), were asked to rate momentary levels of NA and LOC eating severity on their smartphone ≥5 times/day for 7 days at 1-, 2-, and 3-years post-MBS. Both NA and LOC eating were rated on a 1–5 Likert scale, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms. NA was within- and between-person centered and used as a prospective predictor of LOC eating severity. Analyses evaluated if time post-MBS moderated the relationship. A generalized linear mixed model demonstrated that higher NA predicted more severe LOC eating at the next signal when centered within- and between-subjects. Time post-MBS moderated the within-NA to LOC eating severity effect, such that the relationship remained unchanged between years 1 and 2, but strengthened between years 2 and 3. Findings suggest that momentary NA becomes a more powerful predictor of LOC eating severity as time passes post-MBS, which has important implications for interventions aimed at reducing LOC eating and promoting optimal weight outcomes in the post-surgical period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined associations of compliance rate with the reliability and convergent validity of intoxication and negative affect assessments in experience sampling method (ESM) data in three samples (Veterans, Sexual Minority Men, and College Students). Convergent validity was operationalized as within-person associations between daily aggregates of random in situ assessments and retrospective daily assessments or transdermal alcohol assessments. Measures with lower ICC require more assessments for a reliable aggregate (e.g., daily mean). In this regard, the number of completed assessments and intraclass correlation (ICC), rather than compliance with the protocol per se, determines reliability. Although convergent validity was correlated with compliance rate, the relatively weak associations reflect that there are individuals with excellent compliance yet poor convergent validity as well as individuals with poor compliance and excellent convergent validity. The pattern of results does not show a clear threshold for compliance (e.g., 80%) that differentiates good versus poor validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background While chronic workplace stress is known to be associated with health-related outcomes like mental and cardiovascular diseases, research about day-to-day occupational stress is limited. This systematic review includes studies assessing stress exposures as work environment risk factors and stress outcomes, measured via self-perceived questionnaires and physiological stress detection. These measures needed to be assessed repeatedly or continuously via Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) or similar methods carried out in real-world work environments, to be included in this review. The objective was to identify work environment risk factors causing day-to-day stress. Methods The search strategies were applied in seven databases resulting in 11833 records after deduplication, of which 41 studies were included in a qualitative synthesis. Associations were evaluated by correlational analyses. Results The most commonly measured work environment risk factor was work intensity, while stress was most often framed as an affective response. Measures from these two dimensions were also most frequently correlated with each other and most of their correlation coefficients were statistically significant, making work intensity a major risk factor for day-to-day workplace stress. Conclusions This review reveals a diversity in methodological approaches in data collection and data analysis. More studies combining self-perceived stress exposures and outcomes with physiological measures are warranted.

ObjectiveInsufficient engagement is a critical barrier impacting the utility of digital interventions and mobile health assessments. As a result, engagement itself is increasingly becoming a target of studies and interventions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the dynamics of engagement in mobile health data collection by exploring whether, how, and why response to digital self-report prompts change over time in smoking cessation studies.MethodData from two ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies of smoking cessation among diverse smokers attempting to quit (N = 573) with a total of 65,974 digital self-report prompts. We operationalize engagement with self-reporting in term of prompts delivered and prompt response to capture both broad and more granular engagement in self-reporting, respectively. The data were analyzed to describe trends in prompt delivered and prompt response over time. Time-varying effect modeling (TVEM) was employed to investigate the time-varying effects of response to previous prompt and the average response rate on the likelihood of current prompt response.ResultsAlthough prompt response rates were relatively stable over days in both studies, the proportion of participants with prompts delivered declined steadily over time in one of the studies, indicating that over time, fewer participants charged the device and kept it turned on (necessary to receive at least one prompt per day). Among those who did receive prompts, response rates were relatively stable. In both studies, there is a significant, positive and stable relationship between response to previous prompt and the likelihood of response to current prompt throughout all days of the study. The relationship between the average response rate prior to current prompt and the likelihood of responding to the current prompt was also positive, and increasing with time.ConclusionOur study highlights the importance of integrating various indicators to measure engagement in digital self-reporting. Both average response rate and response to previous prompt were highly predictive of response to the next prompt across days in the study. Dynamic patterns of engagement in digital self-reporting can inform the design of new strategies to promote and optimize engagement in digital interventions and mobile health studies.

IntroductionSmartphone technology can provide an effective means to bring real-life and (near-)real-time feedback from hearing aid wearers into the clinic. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) encourages listeners to report on their experiences during or shortly after they take place in order to minimize recall bias, e.g., guided by surveys in a mobile application. Allowing listeners to describe experiences in their own words, further, ensures that answers are independent of predefined jargon or of how survey questions are formulated. Through these means, one can obtain ecologically valid sets of data, for instance during a hearing aid trial, which can support clinicians to assess the needs of their clients, provide directions for fine-tuning, and counselling. At a larger scale, such datasets would facilitate training of machine learning algorithms that could help hearing technology to anticipate user needs.MethodsIn this retrospective, exploratory analysis of a clinical data set, we performed a cluster analysis on 8,793 open-text statements, which were collected through self-initiated EMAs, provided by 2,301 hearing aid wearers as part of their hearing care. Our aim was to explore how listeners describe their daily life experiences with hearing technology in (near-)real-time, in their own words, by identifying emerging themes in the reports. We also explored whether identified themes correlated with the nature of the experiences, i.e., self-reported satisfaction ratings indicating a positive or negative experience.ResultsResults showed that close to 60% of listeners' reports related to speech intelligibility in challenging situations and sound quality dimensions, and tended to be valued as positive experiences. In comparison, close to 40% of reports related to hearing aid management, and tended to be valued as negative experiences.DiscussionThis first report of open-text statements, collected through self-initiated EMAs as part of clinical practice, shows that, while EMA can come with a participant burden, at least a subsample of motivated hearing aid wearers could use these novel tools to provide feedback to inform more responsive, personalized, and family-centered hearing care.

Introduction: In this study, we aimed to examine the association between aggressive ideations and aggressive behaviors in everyday life, as well as the role of processes related to self-regulatory control (i.e., self-control, ego depletion, and emotional states), using experience sampling methods (ESM). Methods: A total of 62male adolescents performed a baselinemeasure of aggression, violent ideations (trait level), and ESM assessments, including four measures per day during nine consecutive days. Results: At a state level, aggressive ideations were associated with higher negative emotions during the previous day as well as with lower self-control and stronger anger rumination at the moment. Aggressive behaviors were related to higher anger rumination at the moment and to the manifestation of higher intensity of aggressive ideations derived in the previous measure. Higher self-control was related to a lower probability of aggressive behavior. Discussion: This study highlights the temporal link between aggressive ideations and behaviors in everyday life as well as the role of self-control in understanding aggressivity in the lap of time. Furthermore, we observed that expressions of anger (i.e., reactivity, as well as rumination) were central in the understanding of aggressive ideations and behaviors in the everyday life (i.e., at within-person variability at the state level). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both anhedonia and craving are common among patients with opioid use disorder (OUD), and are associated with vulnerability to relapse. Although these constructs are theoretically linked relatively few studies have examined them together. In the current study, recently withdrawn patients (N = 71) in residential treatment for prescription OUD underwent a cue reactivity paradigm while being monitored with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Patients also self-reported symptoms of anhedonia via the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS), while smartphone-based ecological momentary assessments (EMA) were used to measure craving levels. On average, lower right prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity in response to positive social stimuli was associated with higher craving (β = − 2.87; S.E. = 1.23; p = 0.02). Self-reported anhedonia moderated the association between PFC activity and craving (β = − 1.02; S.E. = 0.48; p = 0.04), such that patients with two or more anhedonic symptoms had a significant and stronger negative association between PFC activation to hedonically positive images and craving, compared to patients with fewer than two anhedonic symptoms, among whom the association was not significant. This finding provides evidence that higher levels of anhedonia among patients in residential treatment for OUD are associated with a stronger link between lower PFC response to positive social experiences and higher levels of craving, potentially increasing overall vulnerability to relapse. • Anhedonia and craving assessed in recently withdrawn opioid use disordered patients. • Near-infrared spectroscopy indexed neural responses to positive hedonic images. • Reduced prefrontal cortex response to social stimuli associated with more craving. • Greater anhedonia associated with stronger prefrontal cortex response/craving link. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Innovative treatments for paranoia, which significantly impairs social functioning in schizophrenia (SCZ), are urgently needed. The pathophysiology of paranoia implicates the amygdala-prefrontal (PFC) circuits; thus, this study systematically investigated whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the ventrolateral PFC can attenuate paranoia and improve social functioning in SCZ., Methods: A double-blind, within-subjects, crossover design was used to compare active vs. sham tDCS effects in 50 participants with SCZ (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05746494). Participants completed two stimulation visits, each including two tDCS sessions about a week apart, with active (2mA for 20mins) and sham conditions counterbalanced across the two visits. Alongside lab-based measurements of state paranoia and its associated social cognitive biases, Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) was used. This involved daily evaluations of paranoia and social functioning, administered three times per day for seven days in each EMA period (EMA-baseline, EMA-active, EMA-sham)., Results: For lab-based assessments, participants showed greater reductions in state paranoia and improvements in paranoia-related social cognitive biases after active stimulation compared to sham, including lower self-reported hostility and hostile attributions in ambiguous situations post-active versus post-sham. Similarly, in the EMA-active period, participants had lower daily paranoia compared to the EMA-sham period and higher social interaction motivation with better attitudes compared to baseline and the EMA-sham period., Conclusions: Extending our pilot study, the current findings further supported the efficacy of tDCS in SCZ patients in mitigating paranoia and enhancing social functioning. This work sheds light on the neuropathology of paranoia and identifies a promising avenue for future large-scale interventions., (Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

IntroductionThe current study sought to understand the influence of momentary factors within the home and family environment, including parent stress, parent and child mood and child behaviors, on parents' use of a broad range of food parenting practices later that same day.MethodsEcological Momentary Assessment (EMA) was used to evaluate parents' use of coercive, indulgent, structured and autonomy support food parenting practices, as well as numerous potentially salient momentary predictors, including parental stress, parent and child mood, and child behavior. Data were collected from 109 parents of preschool aged children multiple times per day over the course of a ten-day data collection period, allowing for temporal sequencing of momentary predictors and use of food parenting practices.ResultsWith some notable exceptions, study findings align with study hypotheses in that parent stress, parent and child low mood, and child negative behaviors early in the day were found to be associated with the use of less supportive food parenting practices later that same day. For example, greater parent negative mood earlier in the day was associated with a decrease in use of feeding practices from within the structure domain later on that same day (−2.5%, p < 0.01), whereas greater parent positive mood earlier in the day was associated with an increase in use of structure later on that same day (+3.7%, p < 0.01). Greater parent stress earlier in the day was associated with an increase in the use of coercive control (+3.2%, p < 0.01) and indulgent (+3.0%, p < 0.01) practices later that same day; surprisingly, a similar increase in stress earlier in the day was also found to be associated with an increase in the use of autonomy support (5.6%, p < 0.01) feeding practices later on that same day.DiscussionDeveloping an understanding of the types of momentary factors that influence a parent's use of particular food parenting practices across multiple contexts is a crucial next step toward developing effective interventions aimed at teaching parents to use food parenting practices that are supportive of healthful child dietary intake and eating behaviors in a way that is responsive to shifting factors.

IntroductionIn this study, we aimed to examine the association between aggressive ideations and aggressive behaviors in everyday life, as well as the role of processes related to self-regulatory control (i.e., self-control, ego depletion, and emotional states), using experience sampling methods (ESM).MethodsA total of 62 male adolescents performed a baseline measure of aggression, violent ideations (trait level), and ESM assessments, including four measures per day during nine consecutive days.ResultsAt a state level, aggressive ideations were associated with higher negative emotions during the previous day as well as with lower self-control and stronger anger rumination at the moment. Aggressive behaviors were related to higher anger rumination at the moment and to the manifestation of higher intensity of aggressive ideations derived in the previous measure. Higher self-control was related to a lower probability of aggressive behavior.DiscussionThis study highlights the temporal link between aggressive ideations and behaviors in everyday life as well as the role of self-control in understanding aggressivity in the lap of time. Furthermore, we observed that expressions of anger (i.e., reactivity, as well as rumination) were central in the understanding of aggressive ideations and behaviors in the everyday life (i.e., at within-person variability at the state level).

Background: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is a high-frequency ambulatory data collection approach that has come to be widely used in emotion research. It therefore is timely to examine two features of EMA needed for a successful study: compliance with survey prompts and high affective yield (survey prompts that capture affect experience). We posit that compliance may be subject to temporal variation (time-of-day, days in study) and individual differences (depression history), and that affective yield may also differ by social context.Methods: We examined these issues in a sample of 318 young adults (Mage = 24.7 years, SD = 2.7), including those with current depression (n = 28), remitted depression (n = 168) and never-depressed controls (n = 122) who participated in a 7-day EMA protocol of negative and positive affect (NA and PA, respectively).Results: The overall compliance rate was 91% and remained stable across the survey week. However, subjects were significantly less likely to respond to the first daily prompt compared to those that followed. The likelihood of capturing NA and PA decreased with each EMA protocol day, and affective yield across social contexts differed by participants' depression status.Limitations: The sample was largely comprised of White young adults. Relative to the remitted and control groups, the sample size for the currently depressed was unbalanced.Conclusion: Researchers can optimize compliance and affective yield within EMA by considering depression, time-of-day, study duration, and social context. Clinicians using EMA to monitor affect may benefit from considering these parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As mHealth may contribute to suicide prevention, we developed emma, an application using Ecological Momentary Assessment and Intervention (EMA/EMI). Objective: This study evaluated emma usage rate and acceptability during the first month and satisfaction after 1 and 6 months of use. Methods: Ninety-nine patients at high risk of suicide used emma for 6 months. The acceptability and usage rate of the EMA and EMI modules were monitored during the first month. Satisfaction was assessed by questions in the monthly EMA (Likert scale from 0 to 10) and the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS; score: 0-5) completed at month 6. After inclusion, three follow-up visits (months 1, 3, and 6) took place. Results: Seventy-five patients completed at least one of the proposed EMAs. Completion rates were lower for the daily than weekly EMAs (60 and 82%, respectively). The daily completion rates varied according to the question position in the questionnaire (lower for the last questions, LRT = 604.26, df = 1, p-value < 0.0001). Completion rates for the daily EMA were higher in patients with suicidal ideation and/or depression than in those without. The most used EMI was the emergency call module (n = 12). Many users said that they would recommend this application (mean satisfaction score of 6.92 ± 2.78) and the MARS score at month 6 was relatively high (overall rating: 3.3 ± 0.87). Conclusion: Emma can target and involve patients at high risk of suicide. Given the promising users' satisfaction level, emma could rapidly evolve into a complementary tool for suicide prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress and sleep are related, but the nature and time course of this relation is not well understood. We explored the within-person associations of three components of emotional responses to everyday stressors, indexed by negative affect, reactivity (initial response to a stressor), recovery (persistence of the post-stressor response), and pile-up (accumulation of stress episodes), with sleep indicators. We conducted coordinated analyses of data in several studies employing ecological momentary assessments, which captured naturally occurring, self-reported stress and sleep. We defined proximal reactivity as the emotional response to the stressor moment in question compared to an immediate pre-stressor state, and distal reactivity as the emotional response to the stressor moment in question compared to a typical stressor-free state for that person. Results in two of three studies showed that people reported significantly lower sleep quality following days on which they experienced higher levels of distal reactivity to stressors. Days with greater distal reactivity also predicted significantly more difficulty falling asleep in one of two studies. There was no clear association between proximal reactivity and subsequent sleep. Associations of recovery or pile-up with subsequent sleep emerged only in single studies. Poorer sleep quality was significantly related to higher next day levels of negative affect in all three studies, but there were no consistent relations between sleep and next day stress reactivity, recovery, or pile-up. These exploratory analyses suggest that distal reactivity is associated with a heightened risk of experiencing poor sleep quality the following night, and as such the former may serve as a candidate for potential targets for the remediation of the negative effects of stress on sleep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundAs mHealth may contribute to suicide prevention, we developed emma, an application using Ecological Momentary Assessment and Intervention (EMA/EMI).ObjectiveThis study evaluated emma usage rate and acceptability during the first month and satisfaction after 1 and 6 months of use.MethodsNinety-nine patients at high risk of suicide used emma for 6 months. The acceptability and usage rate of the EMA and EMI modules were monitored during the first month. Satisfaction was assessed by questions in the monthly EMA (Likert scale from 0 to 10) and the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS; score: 0–5) completed at month 6. After inclusion, three follow-up visits (months 1, 3, and 6) took place.ResultsSeventy-five patients completed at least one of the proposed EMAs. Completion rates were lower for the daily than weekly EMAs (60 and 82%, respectively). The daily completion rates varied according to the question position in the questionnaire (lower for the last questions, LRT = 604.26, df = 1, p-value < 0.0001). Completion rates for the daily EMA were higher in patients with suicidal ideation and/or depression than in those without. The most used EMI was the emergency call module (n = 12). Many users said that they would recommend this application (mean satisfaction score of 6.92 ± 2.78) and the MARS score at month 6 was relatively high (overall rating: 3.3 ± 0.87).ConclusionEmma can target and involve patients at high risk of suicide. Given the promising users’ satisfaction level, emma could rapidly evolve into a complementary tool for suicide prevention.

Co-use of nicotine, alcohol and/or cannabis is common among adults in the United States. Co-use may represent greater addiction severity than single substance use. Recent studies have examined the extent to which the frequency, order, simultaneity, motivations, and contextual factors associated with co-use differ from that of single use. Co-use has become prevalent among racial/ethnic minority individuals who exhibit distinct co-use patterns and related outcomes; however, most of these studies rely on cross-sectional or sparse longitudinal observations. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) can illuminate such patterns and associations with time-varying contexts. This review summarizes EMA studies on co-use published from 2008 to 2023 involving racial/ethnic minority individuals and point to gaps. Our review addresses: 1) whether use of one substance leads to substitution or complementary use of another, 2) whether antecedents/contexts differ by co-use patterns and minority status, and 3) what consequences of co-use have been documented across co-use patterns or minority status. Search results yielded 465 articles, with 33 meeting inclusion criteria. We extracted study-level characteristics and synthesized the findings. The findings largely focused on co-use patterns, categories of co-use, proximal antecedents and contexts, and consequences. Variations by minority status were rarely examined; few examined acute effects of unique experiences that may contribute to co-use among racial/ethnic minority adults. The EMA literature on co-use is burgeoning in recent years and supports complementary hypothesis. More research to capture time-intensive data on experiences to contextualize the co-use among racial/ethnic minority groups with greater diversity in race/ethnicity is warranted. • EMA literature on co-use of nicotine, alcohol and/or cannabis supports complementary hypothesis. • EMA on co-use focused on co-use patterns, proximal antecedents, and consequences. • Subgroup variations by racial/ethnic minority status were rarely examined. • Daily experiences that may acutely influence co-use among racial/ethnic minorities are understudied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of different coping styles on situational coping in everyday life situations and gender differences. An ecological momentary assessment study with the mobile health app TrackYourStress was conducted with 113 participants. The coping styles Positive Thinking , Active Stress Coping , Social Support , Support in Faith , and Alcohol and Cigarette Consumption of the Stress and Coping Inventory were measured at baseline. Situational coping was assessed by the question "How well can you cope with your momentary stress level" over 4 weeks. Multilevel models were conducted to test the effects of the coping styles on situational coping. Additionally, gender differences were evaluated. Positive Thinking (p = 0.03) and Active Stress Coping (p = 0.04) had significant positive impacts on situational coping in the total sample. For women, Social Support had a significant positive effect on situational coping (p = 0.046). For men, Active Stress Coping had a significant positive effect on situational coping (p = 0.001). Women had higher scores on the SCI scale Social Support than men (p = 0.007). These results suggest that different coping styles could be more effective in daily life for women than for men. Taking this into account, interventions tailored to users' coping styles might lead to better coping outcomes than generalized interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Self-efficacy, or the perceived capability to engage in a behavior, has been shown to play an important role in adhering to weight loss treatment. Given that adherence is extremely important for successful weight loss outcomes and that sleep and self-efficacy are modifiable factors in this relationship, we examined the association between sleep and self-efficacy for adhering to the daily plan. Investigators examined whether various dimensions of sleep were associated with self-efficacy for adhering to the daily recommended lifestyle plan among participants (N = 150) in a 12-month weight loss study. Method: This study was a secondary analysis of data from a 12-month prospective observational study that included a standard behavioral weight loss intervention. Daily assessments at the beginning of day (BOD) of self-efficacy and the previous night's sleep were collected in real-time using ecological momentary assessment. Results: The analysis included 44,613 BOD assessments. On average, participants reported sleeping for 6.93 ± 1.28 h, reported 1.56 ± 3.54 awakenings, and gave low ratings for trouble sleeping (3.11 ± 2.58; 0: no trouble; 10: a lot of trouble) and mid-high ratings for sleep quality (6.45 ± 2.09; 0: poor; 10: excellent). Participants woke up feeling tired 41.7% of the time. Using linear mixed effects modeling, a better rating in each sleep dimension was associated with higher self-efficacy the following day (all p values <.001). Conclusion: Our findings supported the hypothesis that better sleep would be associated with higher levels of reported self-efficacy for adhering to the healthy lifestyle plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]