Client's Experiences Using a Location-Based Technology ICT System during Gambling Treatments' Crucial Components: A Qualitative Study.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the treatment of choice for Gambling Disorder (GD), with stimulus control (SC) and exposure with response prevention (ERP) being its two core components. Despite their efficacy, SC and ERP are not easy to deliver, so it is important to explore new ways to enhance patient compliance regarding SC and ERP. The aim of this study is to describe and assess the opinion of two patients diagnosed with problem gambling and GD that used the Symptoms app, a location-based ICT system, during SC and ERP. A consensual qualitative research study was conducted. We used a semi-structured interview, developed ad-hoc based on the Expectation and Satisfaction Scale and System Usability Scale. A total of 20 categories were identified within six domains: usefulness, improvements, recommendation to other people, safety, usability, and opinion regarding the use of the app after completing the intervention. The patients considered the app to be useful during the SC and ERP components and emphasized that feeling observed and supported at any given time helped them avoid lapses. This work can offer a starting point that opens up new research paths regarding psychological interventions for gambling disorder, such as assessing whether location-based ICT tools enhance commitment rates.

Smartphone Apps for the Treatment of Mental Disorders: Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Smartphone apps are an increasingly popular means for delivering psychological interventions to patients suffering from a mental disorder. In line with this popularity, there is a need to analyze and summarize the state of the art, both from a psychological and technical perspective. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to systematically review the literature on the use of smartphones for psychological interventions. Our systematic review has the following objectives: (1) analyze the coverage of mental disorders in research articles per year; (2) study the types of assessment in research articles per mental disorder per year; (3) map the use of advanced technical features, such as sensors, and novel software features, such as personalization and social media, per mental disorder; (4) provide an overview of smartphone apps per mental disorder; and (5) provide an overview of the key characteristics of empirical assessments with rigorous designs (ie, randomized controlled trials [RCTs]). METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for systematic reviews were followed. We performed searches in Scopus, Web of Science, American Psychological Association PsycNET, and Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, covering a period of 6 years (2013-2018). We included papers that described the use of smartphone apps to deliver psychological interventions for known mental disorders. We formed multidisciplinary teams, comprising experts in psychology and computer science, to select and classify articles based on psychological and technical features. RESULTS: We found 158 articles that met the inclusion criteria. We observed an increasing interest in smartphone-based interventions over time. Most research targeted disorders with high prevalence, that is, depressive (31/158,19.6%) and anxiety disorders (18/158, 11.4%). Of the total, 72.7% (115/158) of the papers focused on six mental disorders: depression, anxiety, trauma and stressor-related, substance-related and addiction, schizophrenia spectrum, and other psychotic disorders, or a combination of disorders. More than half of known mental disorders were not or very scarcely (<3%) represented. An increasing number of studies were dedicated to assessing clinical effects, but RCTs were still a minority (25/158, 15.8%). From a technical viewpoint, interventions were leveraging the improved modalities (screen and sound) and interactivity of smartphones but only sparingly leveraged their truly novel capabilities, such as sensors, alternative delivery paradigms, and analytical methods. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for designing interventions for the full breadth of mental disorders, rather than primarily focusing on most prevalent disorders. We further contend that an increasingly systematic focus, that is, involving RCTs, is needed to improve the robustness and trustworthiness of assessments. Regarding technical aspects, we argue that further exploration and innovative use of the novel capabilities of smartphones are needed to fully realize their potential for the treatment of mental health disorders.

Considerations for Designing Context-Aware Mobile Apps for Mental Health Interventions.

This work identifies major areas of knowledge and proposes a set of relevant dimensions by area that must be taken into account in the design and delivery of context-aware mobile applications for mental health interventions. We argue that much of the related research has focused only on a few dimensions, paying little or no attention to others and, most importantly, to potential relationships between them. Our belief is that the improvement of the effectiveness of mobile interventions to support mental health necessarily implies that developers and therapists comprehensively consider the interaction between the proposed dimensions. Taking as a starting point the three areas of knowledge (Technology, Context, and Mental Health), we re-examine each area to identify relevant dimensions, discuss the relationships between them and finally draw a series of considerations. The resulting considerations can help therapists and developers to devise, design, and generate custom mobile applications in a way that increases the motivation and engagement of patients and, therefore, the effectiveness of psychological treatments.

An Internet-based program for depression using activity and physiological sensors: efficacy, expectations, satisfaction, and ease of use.

PURPOSE: Computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) has been shown to be efficacious. Moreover, CCBT can be enhanced by using physiological and activity sensors, but there is no evidence about the acceptability of all these tools. The objective of this study is to examine the efficacy, expectations, satisfaction, and ease of use of an Internet-based CCBT program for preventing depression, with and without sensors (electroencephalography, electrocardiograhpy ECG, and actigraphy), in a high-risk population (unemployed men). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty participants at risk of depression (unemployed men) were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions: 1) intervention program (N=22), 2) intervention program plus sensors (N=19), and 3) control group (N=19). Participants completed depression, anxiety, positive and negative affect, and perceived stress measures. Furthermore, they also completed the measures for expectation, satisfaction, and the ease of use of the program. RESULTS: Results showed that the two intervention groups improved significantly more than the control group on the clinical variables, and the improvements were greater in the group that used sensors than in the group that did not use them. Furthermore, participants in both intervention groups scored high on expectations and satisfaction with the CCBT program (with and without sensors). The mean score for usability was 88 out of 100 (standard deviation =12.32). No significant differences were found between groups on any of these variables. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to analyze the efficacy, expectations, satisfaction, and ease of use of an Internet-based program using physiological and activity sensors. These results suggest that an Internet program for depression with or without physiological and activity sensors is effective, satisfactory, and easy to use.