Category: Telehealth/m-Health
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, ,Snezana Urosevic, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Clinician Investigator Team Program Manager
Minneapolis VA Health Care System
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Eric Kuhn, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
Clinical Psychologist | Associate Professor
National Center for PTSD
Menlo Park, California
Katherine Miller, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Minneapolis VAMC
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Adriana Hughes, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Staff Neuropsychologist
Minneapolis VAMC
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Snezana Urosevic, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Clinician Investigator Team Program Manager
Minneapolis VA Health Care System
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Carol Chu, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Minneapolis VAMC
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Brittany Stevenson, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Minneapolis VAMC
Minneapolis, Minnesota
There is a growing appreciation for real-time and real-world insights into clinical states and functioning of people with mental disorders (e.g., Kivelä et al., 2022; Seelye et al., 2019; Shiffman, 2009). Researchers are suggesting that clinic-based self-report assessments in weekly or monthly increments limit ability for early detection of symptoms and for preventing worsening illness course through early interventions in multiple mental health conditions (e.g., Dodge et al., 2015; Germain et al., 2021; Vieta et al., 2018). Digital technology provides unique opportunities for immediate and direct observations of patients’ daily functioning and fine-grained temporal dynamics of day-to-day symptom fluctuations. This enriched understanding of functioning and symptoms processes in-situ can detect meaningful changes and guide delivery of personalized treatments.
Digital technology approaches range from passive and unobtrusive sensor-based assessments to more active assessments requiring a patient’s input, such as ecological momentary assessments (EMA). However, evidence supporting feasibility and clinical utility lags behind the proliferation of digital technology methods (Bruce et al., 2020; Nielsen et al., 2012). Thus, studies that can provide data on feasibility, clinical utility, and overall reliability and validity of digital technology measures of mental health issues are critical.
The first three presentations will focus on feasibility and clinical insights from passive, sensor-based assessments in Veteran populations. Dr. Katherine Miller will present data on the feasibility and clinical implications of in-home sensor technologies for assessing sleep parameters in trauma-exposed Veterans. Dr. Adriana Hughes will present data on the feasibility and acceptability of mobile and in-home sensor technologies for monitoring multiple domains of functional cognition in healthy older adults and older adults with mild cognitive impairment. Dr. Snezana Urosevic will present the data on the feasibility and acceptability of smartphone GPS-tracking measures for monitoring functional changes in social engagement in Veterans with bipolar disorders.
The final two presentations will focus on EMA, or active assessment approaches, to characterize day-to-day changes in risky behaviors. Dr. Carol Chu will present data on using EMA to capture daily fluctuations in suicide-related thinking, intent, and suicide risk factors, in Veterans post-discharge from psychiatric hospitalization. Dr. Britt Stevenson will provide information on feasibility of, and patterns discovered from, using EMA to assess patient-level predictors of alcohol use in Veterans with substance use disorders.
Finally, Dr. Eric Kuhn, the discussant for the symposium and expert on mobile technologies’ use for mental health assessment and treatment in Veterans, will provide concluding remarks on lessons learned from the presented studies and future directions for digital technology-based assessments in Veteran and other patient populations.