2024
González-Pérez, Alberto; Díaz-Sanahuja, Laura; Matey-Sanz, Miguel; Osma, Jorge; Granell-Canut, Carlos; Bretón-López, Juana; Casteleyn, Sven
Towards a self-applied, mobile-based geolocated exposure therapy software for anxiety disorders: SyMptOMS-ET app Journal Article
In: Digital Health, vol. 10, pp. 1-17, 2024, ISBN: 2055-2076.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: exposure therapy, mental health, mHealth, smartphone app
@article{Gonzalez-Perez2024a,
title = {Towards a self-applied, mobile-based geolocated exposure therapy software for anxiety disorders: SyMptOMS-ET app},
author = {Alberto González-Pérez and Laura Díaz-Sanahuja and Miguel Matey-Sanz and Jorge Osma and Carlos Granell-Canut and Juana Bretón-López and Sven Casteleyn},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076241283942},
isbn = {2055-2076},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-10-28},
urldate = {2024-10-28},
journal = {Digital Health},
volume = {10},
pages = {1-17},
abstract = {Objective
While exposure therapy (ET) has the potential to help people tolerate intense situation-specific emotions and change avoidance behaviours, no smartphone solution exists to guide the process of in-vivo ET. A geolocation-based smartphone software component was designed and developed to instrumentalize patient guidance in in-vivo ET and its psychological validity was assessed by a group of independent psychology experts.
Methods
A team of computer scientists and psychologists developed the ET Component for in-vivo ET using geolocation-based technology, following the process-centred design methodology. The ET Component was integrated into the SyMptOMS-ET Android application, which was developed following the co-design methodology. Next, nine independent psychology experts tested and evaluated the ET Component and the SyMptOMS-ET app in the field, following the think-aloud methodology. Participants also completed the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) instrument to quantitatively evaluate the solutions.
Results
We present the SyMptOMS-ET app’s main features and the ET Component exposure workflow. Next, we discuss the feedback obtained and the results of the MARS instrument. Participants who tested the app were satisfied with the ET Component during exposure scenarios (score of mu4.32 out of 5 [mu 0.28] on MARS quality aspects), agreed on the soundness of the theoretical foundations of the solutions developed (score of mu4.57 [mu0.48] on MARS treatment support aspects), and provided minor think-a-loud comments to improve them.
Conclusions
The results of the expert evaluation demonstrate the psychological validity of the ET Component and the SyMptOMS-ET app. However, further studies are needed to discern the acceptability and efficacy of the mHealth tool in the target population.},
keywords = {exposure therapy, mental health, mHealth, smartphone app},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Objective
While exposure therapy (ET) has the potential to help people tolerate intense situation-specific emotions and change avoidance behaviours, no smartphone solution exists to guide the process of in-vivo ET. A geolocation-based smartphone software component was designed and developed to instrumentalize patient guidance in in-vivo ET and its psychological validity was assessed by a group of independent psychology experts.
Methods
A team of computer scientists and psychologists developed the ET Component for in-vivo ET using geolocation-based technology, following the process-centred design methodology. The ET Component was integrated into the SyMptOMS-ET Android application, which was developed following the co-design methodology. Next, nine independent psychology experts tested and evaluated the ET Component and the SyMptOMS-ET app in the field, following the think-aloud methodology. Participants also completed the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) instrument to quantitatively evaluate the solutions.
Results
We present the SyMptOMS-ET app’s main features and the ET Component exposure workflow. Next, we discuss the feedback obtained and the results of the MARS instrument. Participants who tested the app were satisfied with the ET Component during exposure scenarios (score of mu4.32 out of 5 [mu 0.28] on MARS quality aspects), agreed on the soundness of the theoretical foundations of the solutions developed (score of mu4.57 [mu0.48] on MARS treatment support aspects), and provided minor think-a-loud comments to improve them.
Conclusions
The results of the expert evaluation demonstrate the psychological validity of the ET Component and the SyMptOMS-ET app. However, further studies are needed to discern the acceptability and efficacy of the mHealth tool in the target population.
While exposure therapy (ET) has the potential to help people tolerate intense situation-specific emotions and change avoidance behaviours, no smartphone solution exists to guide the process of in-vivo ET. A geolocation-based smartphone software component was designed and developed to instrumentalize patient guidance in in-vivo ET and its psychological validity was assessed by a group of independent psychology experts.
Methods
A team of computer scientists and psychologists developed the ET Component for in-vivo ET using geolocation-based technology, following the process-centred design methodology. The ET Component was integrated into the SyMptOMS-ET Android application, which was developed following the co-design methodology. Next, nine independent psychology experts tested and evaluated the ET Component and the SyMptOMS-ET app in the field, following the think-aloud methodology. Participants also completed the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) instrument to quantitatively evaluate the solutions.
Results
We present the SyMptOMS-ET app’s main features and the ET Component exposure workflow. Next, we discuss the feedback obtained and the results of the MARS instrument. Participants who tested the app were satisfied with the ET Component during exposure scenarios (score of mu4.32 out of 5 [mu 0.28] on MARS quality aspects), agreed on the soundness of the theoretical foundations of the solutions developed (score of mu4.57 [mu0.48] on MARS treatment support aspects), and provided minor think-a-loud comments to improve them.
Conclusions
The results of the expert evaluation demonstrate the psychological validity of the ET Component and the SyMptOMS-ET app. However, further studies are needed to discern the acceptability and efficacy of the mHealth tool in the target population.
2023
González-Pérez, Alberto; Matey-Sanz, Miguel; Granell-Canut, Carlos; Díaz-Sanahuja, Laura; Bretón-López, Juana; Casteleyn, Sven
AwarNS: A framework for developing context-aware reactive mobile applications for health and mental health Journal Article
In: Journal of Biomedical Informatics, vol. 141, pp. 104359, 2023, ISSN: 1532-0464.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: context-aware computing, digital phenotyping, location-based services, mHealth, smartphone app, symptoms
@article{Gonzalez-Perez2023a,
title = {AwarNS: A framework for developing context-aware reactive mobile applications for health and mental health},
author = {Alberto González-Pérez and Miguel Matey-Sanz and Carlos Granell-Canut and Laura Díaz-Sanahuja and Juana Bretón-López and Sven Casteleyn},
doi = {10.1016/j.jbi.2023.104359},
issn = {1532-0464},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-04-20},
journal = {Journal of Biomedical Informatics},
volume = {141},
pages = {104359},
abstract = {In recent years, interest and investment in health and mental health smartphone apps have grown significantly. However, this growth has not been followed by an increase in quality and the incorporation of more advanced features in such applications. This can be explained by an expanding fragmentation of existing mobile platforms along with more restrictive privacy and battery consumption policies, with a consequent higher complexity of developing such smartphone applications. To help overcome these barriers, there is a need for robust, well-designed software development frameworks which are designed to be reliable, power-efficient and ethical with respect to data collection practices, and which support the sense-analyse-act paradigm typically employed in reactive mHealth applications. In this article, we present the AwarNS Framework, a context-aware modular software development framework for Android smartphones, which facilitates transparent, reliable, passive and active data sampling running in the background (sense), on-device and server-side data analysis (analyse), and context-aware just-in-time offline and online intervention capabilities (act). It is based on the principles of versatility, reliability, privacy, reusability, and testability. It offers built-in modules for capturing smartphone and associated wearable sensor data (e.g. IMU sensors, geolocation, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scans, physical activity, battery level, heart rate), analysis modules for data transformation, selection and filtering, performing geofencing analysis and machine learning regression and classification, and act modules for persistence and various notification deliveries. We describe the framework’s design principles and architecture design, explain its capabilities and implementation, and demonstrate its use at the hand of real-life case studies implementing various mobile interventions for different mental disorders used in clinical practice.},
keywords = {context-aware computing, digital phenotyping, location-based services, mHealth, smartphone app, symptoms},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
In recent years, interest and investment in health and mental health smartphone apps have grown significantly. However, this growth has not been followed by an increase in quality and the incorporation of more advanced features in such applications. This can be explained by an expanding fragmentation of existing mobile platforms along with more restrictive privacy and battery consumption policies, with a consequent higher complexity of developing such smartphone applications. To help overcome these barriers, there is a need for robust, well-designed software development frameworks which are designed to be reliable, power-efficient and ethical with respect to data collection practices, and which support the sense-analyse-act paradigm typically employed in reactive mHealth applications. In this article, we present the AwarNS Framework, a context-aware modular software development framework for Android smartphones, which facilitates transparent, reliable, passive and active data sampling running in the background (sense), on-device and server-side data analysis (analyse), and context-aware just-in-time offline and online intervention capabilities (act). It is based on the principles of versatility, reliability, privacy, reusability, and testability. It offers built-in modules for capturing smartphone and associated wearable sensor data (e.g. IMU sensors, geolocation, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scans, physical activity, battery level, heart rate), analysis modules for data transformation, selection and filtering, performing geofencing analysis and machine learning regression and classification, and act modules for persistence and various notification deliveries. We describe the framework’s design principles and architecture design, explain its capabilities and implementation, and demonstrate its use at the hand of real-life case studies implementing various mobile interventions for different mental disorders used in clinical practice.