Relapse prevention through health technology program reduces hospitalization in schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Psychiatric hospitalization is a major driver of cost in the treatment of schizophrenia. Here, we asked whether a technology-enhanced approach to relapse prevention could reduce days spent in a hospital after discharge. METHODS: The Improving Care and Reducing Cost (ICRC) study was a quasi-experimental clinical trial in outpatients with schizophrenia conducted between 26 February 2013 and 17 April 2015 at 10 different sites in the USA in an outpatient setting. Patients were between 18 and 60 years old with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or psychotic disorder not otherwise specified. Patients received usual care or a technology-enhanced relapse prevention program during a 6-month period after discharge. The health technology program included in-person, individualized relapse prevention planning with treatments delivered via smartphones and computers, as well as a web-based prescriber decision support program. The main outcome measure was days spent in a psychiatric hospital during 6 months after discharge. RESULTS: The study included 462 patients, of which 438 had complete baseline data and were thus used for propensity matching and analysis. Control participants (N = 89; 37 females) were enrolled first and received usual care for relapse prevention followed by 349 participants (128 females) who received technology-enhanced relapse prevention. During 6-month follow-up, 43% of control and 24% of intervention participants were hospitalized (χ2 = 11.76, p<0.001). Days of hospitalization were reduced by 5 days (mean days: b = -4.58, 95% CI -9.03 to -0.13, p = 0.044) in the intervention condition compared to control. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that technology-enhanced relapse prevention is an effective and feasible way to reduce rehospitalization days among patients with schizophrenia.

Fully automated detection of formal thought disorder with Time-series Augmented Representations for Detection of Incoherent Speech (TARDIS).

Formal thought disorder (ThD) is a clinical sign of schizophrenia amongst other serious mental health conditions. ThD can be recognized by observing incoherent speech - speech in which it is difficult to perceive connections between successive utterances and lacks a clear global theme. Automated assessment of the coherence of speech in patients with schizophrenia has been an active area of research for over a decade, in an effort to develop an objective and reliable instrument through which to quantify ThD. However, this work has largely been conducted in controlled settings using structured interviews and depended upon manual transcription services to render audio recordings amenable to computational analysis. In this paper, we present an evaluation of such automated methods in the context of a fully automated system using Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) in place of a manual transcription service, with "audio diaries" collected in naturalistic settings from participants experiencing Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (AVH). We show that performance lost due to ASR errors can often be restored through the application of Time-Series Augmented Representations for Detection of Incoherent Speech (TARDIS), a novel approach that involves treating the sequence of coherence scores from a transcript as a time-series, providing features for machine learning. With ASR, TARDIS improves average AUC across coherence metrics for detection of severe ThD by 0.09; average correlation with human-labeled derailment scores by 0.10; and average correlation between coherence estimates from manual and ASR-derived transcripts by 0.29. In addition, TARDIS improves the agreement between coherence estimates from manual transcripts and human judgment and correlation with self-reported estimates of AVH symptom severity. As such, TARDIS eliminates a fundamental barrier to the deployment of automated methods to detect linguistic indicators of ThD to monitor and improve clinical care in serious mental illness.

A Smartphone Intervention for People With Serious Mental Illness: Fully Remote Randomized Controlled Trial of CORE.

BACKGROUND: People with serious mental illness (SMI) have significant unmet mental health needs. Development and testing of digital interventions that can alleviate the suffering of people with SMI is a public health priority. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to conduct a fully remote randomized waitlist-controlled trial of CORE, a smartphone intervention that comprises daily exercises designed to promote reassessment of dysfunctional beliefs in multiple domains. METHODS: Individuals were recruited via the web using Google and Facebook advertisements. Enrolled participants were randomized into either active intervention or waitlist control groups. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Hamilton Program for Schizophrenia Voices, Green Paranoid Thought Scale, Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Friendship Scale, and Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) at baseline (T1), 30-day (T2), and 60-day (T3) assessment points. Participants in the active group used CORE from T1 to T2, and participants in the waitlist group used CORE from T2 to T3. Both groups completed usability and accessibility measures after they concluded their intervention periods. RESULTS: Overall, 315 individuals from 45 states participated in this study. The sample comprised individuals with self-reported bipolar disorder (111/315, 35.2%), major depressive disorder (136/315, 43.2%), and schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (68/315, 21.6%) who displayed moderate to severe symptoms and disability levels at baseline. Participants rated CORE as highly usable and acceptable. Intent-to-treat analyses showed significant treatment×time interactions for the BDI-II (F1,313=13.38; P<.001), GAD-7 (F1,313=5.87; P=.01), RAS (F1,313=23.42; P<.001), RSES (F1,313=19.28; P<.001), and SDS (F1,313=10.73; P=.001). Large effects were observed for the BDI-II (d=0.58), RAS (d=0.61), and RSES (d=0.64); a moderate effect size was observed for the SDS (d=0.44), and a small effect size was observed for the GAD-7 (d=0.20). Similar changes in outcome measures were later observed in the waitlist control group participants following crossover after they received CORE (T2 to T3). Approximately 41.5% (64/154) of participants in the active group and 60.2% (97/161) of participants in the waitlist group were retained at T2, and 33.1% (51/154) of participants in the active group and 40.3% (65/161) of participants in the waitlist group were retained at T3. CONCLUSIONS: We successfully recruited, screened, randomized, treated, and assessed a geographically dispersed sample of participants with SMI entirely via the web, demonstrating that fully remote clinical trials are feasible in this population; however, study retention remains challenging. CORE showed promise as a usable, acceptable, and effective tool for reducing the severity of psychiatric symptoms and disability while improving recovery and self-esteem. Rapid adoption and real-world dissemination of evidence-based mobile health interventions such as CORE are needed if we are to shorten the science-to-service gap and address the significant unmet mental health needs of people with SMI during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04068467; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04068467.

Feasibility and acceptability of post-hospitalization ecological momentary assessment in patients with psychotic-spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND: Up to 50% of patients with psychotic-spectrum disorders are medication nonadherent. The use of real-time assessment via ecological momentary assessment (EMA) on mobile devices might offer important insights into adherence behaviors that cannot be measured in the clinic. However, existing EMA studies have only studied acutely ill patients during hospitalization or more stable patients in the community. METHODS: Feasibility and acceptability of EMA in 65 patients with psychotic-spectrum disorders who were recently discharged from the hospital were assessed. EMA was administered for four weeks via study-provided mobile devices. Feasibility was measured by study recruitment/retention rates, patients' connectivity, and completion rates. Quantitative and qualitative acceptability data were collected. RESULTS: Participants completed 28-31% of offered EMA assessments. The only significant predictor of reduced EMA completion was recent cannabis use. EMA completion was maintained from weeks 1 to 3 but significantly dropped at the fourth week. Patient acceptability feedback was generally positive; negative comments related primarily to technological problems. CONCLUSIONS: This was the first study to use EMA in recently discharged patients with psychotic-spectrum disorders. EMA is feasible and acceptable in this population, but completion rates were lower than in more stable samples. Future research should consider limiting the assessment period, screening for substance use, and integrating assessment with intervention elements to increase EMA engagement.

Using Facebook to Reach People Who Experience Auditory Hallucinations.

BACKGROUND: Auditory hallucinations (eg, hearing voices) are relatively common and underreported false sensory experiences that may produce distress and impairment. A large proportion of those who experience auditory hallucinations go unidentified and untreated. Traditional engagement methods oftentimes fall short in reaching the diverse population of people who experience auditory hallucinations. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this proof-of-concept study was to examine the viability of leveraging Web-based social media as a method of engaging people who experience auditory hallucinations and to evaluate their attitudes toward using social media platforms as a resource for Web-based support and technology-based treatment. METHODS: We used Facebook advertisements to recruit individuals who experience auditory hallucinations to complete an 18-item Web-based survey focused on issues related to auditory hallucinations and technology use in American adults. We systematically tested multiple elements of the advertisement and survey layout including image selection, survey pagination, question ordering, and advertising targeting strategy. Each element was evaluated sequentially and the most cost-effective strategy was implemented in the subsequent steps, eventually deriving an optimized approach. Three open-ended question responses were analyzed using conventional inductive content analysis. Coded responses were quantified into binary codes, and frequencies were then calculated. RESULTS: Recruitment netted N=264 total sample over a 6-week period. Ninety-seven participants fully completed all measures at a total cost of $8.14 per participant across testing phases. Systematic adjustments to advertisement design, survey layout, and targeting strategies improved data quality and cost efficiency. People were willing to provide information on what triggered their auditory hallucinations along with strategies they use to cope, as well as provide suggestions to others who experience auditory hallucinations. Women, people who use mobile phones, and those experiencing more distress, were reportedly more open to using Facebook as a support and/or therapeutic tool in the future. CONCLUSIONS: Facebook advertisements can be used to recruit research participants who experience auditory hallucinations quickly and in a cost-effective manner. Most (58%) Web-based respondents are open to Facebook-based support and treatment and are willing to describe their subjective experiences with auditory hallucinations.

A Qualitative Study of Client-Clinician Text Exchanges in a Mobile Health Intervention for Individuals With Psychotic Disorders and Substance Use.

OBJECTIVE: Mobile health (mHealth) approaches have the potential to transform prevention, wellness, and illness management for people with dual diagnosis consisting of co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders by providing timely and cost-effective interventions in clients' natural environments. However, little is known about how clients interact with mHealth interventions to manage their illness. This qualitative study explored the content of mobile phone text messages between clients with dual diagnosis and a clinician who engaged them in daily assessment and intervention text exchanges. METHODS: Seventeen participants with psychotic disorders and substance use were enrolled in a 12-week single-arm trial of an mHealth intervention focusing on illness management. The clinician (i.e., mobile interventionist) sent daily text messages to participants' privately owned mobile phones to assess their medication adherence and clinical status. The clinician provided other illness management and wellness suggestions flexibly, in response to participants' needs and preferences. In this qualitative study we conducted a thematic analysis of the client-clinician text exchanges that occurred over the course of the intervention. RESULTS: Seven major content themes in client-clinician text message exchanges were identified: mental health symptoms; mental health coping strategies; mental health treatment and management; lifestyle behaviors; social relationships and leisure activities; motivation and personal goal setting; and independent living. Participants were interested in discussing strategies for coping with mental health symptoms (e.g., cognitive restructuring, social support) and health behavior change (e.g., increased physical activity, dietary changes). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that client-centered text messaging has the potential to be an important component of illness management for people with dual diagnosis. This approach is able to offer coping strategies that are tailored to clients' needs and preferences in real time when help is needed.

Strategies for mHealth research: lessons from 3 mobile intervention studies.

The capacity of Mobile Health (mHealth) technologies to propel healthcare forward is directly linked to the quality of mobile interventions developed through careful mHealth research. mHealth research entails several unique characteristics, including collaboration with technologists at all phases of a project, reliance on regional telecommunication infrastructure and commercial mobile service providers, and deployment and evaluation of interventions "in the wild", with participants using mobile tools in uncontrolled environments. In the current paper, we summarize the lessons our multi-institutional/multi-disciplinary team has learned conducting a range of mHealth projects using mobile phones with diverse clinical populations. First, we describe three ongoing projects that we draw from to illustrate throughout the paper. We then provide an example for multidisciplinary teamwork and conceptual mHealth intervention development that we found to be particularly useful. Finally, we discuss mHealth research challenges (i.e. evolving technology, mobile phone selection, user characteristics, the deployment environment, and mHealth system "bugs and glitches"), and provide recommendations for identifying and resolving barriers, or preventing their occurrence altogether.

Remote "hovering" with individuals with psychotic disorders and substance use: feasibility, engagement, and therapeutic alliance with a text-messaging mobile interventionist.

OBJECTIVE: People with serious mental illnesses and substance abuse problems (i.e., dual diagnosis) constitute a particularly challenging and costly clinical group. This study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a novel model of care in which a mobile interventionist used mobile phone text messaging to remotely monitor and provide daily support to individuals with psychotic disorders and substance use. METHODS: Seventeen participants with dual diagnosis were enrolled in a 12-week single-arm trial. A clinical social worker served as the mobile interventionist and sent daily text messages to participants' privately owned mobile phones to assess their medication adherence and clinical status. The mobile interventionist provided text-message feedback and support and suggested various coping strategies flexibly, in response to participants' replies to prompts. At the end of the trial, participants completed a usability and satisfaction measure and two self-rated measures of therapeutic alliance with their clinicians. In one version, participants rated their relationship with their mobile interventionist; in the second version, they rated their relationship with their community-based treatment team. RESULTS: Participants received an average of 139 text messages (SD = 37.5) each from the mobile interventionist over the 12-week trial. On average, participants responded to 87% of the mobile interventionist's messages that required a reply. More than 90% of participants thought the intervention was useful and rewarding and that it helped them be more effective and productive in their lives. Participants' assessments of their relationship with the mobile interventionist were positive. Paired-sample t-test found that the therapeutic alliance ratings participants provided for their mobile interventionist were significantly higher than those provided for their community-based treatment team clinicians, who they met with regularly. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that text-message "hovering" can be conducted successfully with individuals with psychotic disorders and substance abuse. Developing a cadre of mobile interventionists who are specifically trained on how to engage patients via mobile devices while adhering to ethical guidelines and regulatory standards may be an effective way to strengthen service delivery models, improve patient outcomes, and reduce costs.

Exploring the Experience of Community Participation Among Individuals With Serious Mental Illness.

People with serious mental illness (SMI) encounter restrictions in the quantity of their community participation. Less is known about the quality of their participation. We aimed to explore the relationship between symptoms of SMI and the daily experience (i.e., loneliness and enjoyment) of community participation. We examined daily community participation among people with SMI using ecological momentary assessment surveys. We built multilevel models to examine the associations between symptoms of SMI and loneliness or enjoyment during community participation. Our analysis included 183 people among four participant groups: bipolar disorder (n = 44), major depressive disorder (n = 46), schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (n = 40), and control (n = 53). People with schizophrenia engaged in more unstructured activities (e.g., socializing) than people among other groups. Symptom association varied across diagnostic groups. To support tailored intervention development, researchers and practitioners should consider the context of participation and the clinical characteristics of the client.

People with Serious Mental Illness Have Different Patterns and Emotions Related to Community ParticipationWhy was this study done?Adults with serious mental illness engage in less community participation­activities done with another person­than their peers. In addition, it is possible that people with serious mental illness do not experience the emotions that we expect during community participation. This study explored the subjective experience of community participation among people with serious mental illness.What did the researchers do?Researchers collected information about participants' mental health symptoms and daily activity participation. Participants completed surveys that were sent to their cell phone multiples times per day. On the survey, participants described the kind of activity they were doing, whether or not they were doing the activity with someone else, and how much loneliness or enjoyment they were experiencing. Researchers looked at which activities were most often done with someone else. Researchers also looked at which mental health symptoms were related to loneliness and enjoyment during community participation.What did the researchers find?People with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder did less community participation at work or school than the other groups. Mental health symptoms, especially depression, negative symptoms (i.e., lack of pleasure and motivation), and defeatist beliefs, were related to less enjoyment and more loneliness across the groups.What do the findings mean?People with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder may have less opportunities for community participation. Different symptoms may affect community participation in different ways. Researchers and practitioners should consider these findings when developing intervention plans.

Readiness for mHealth interventions in Jordan: Refugee camp and urban community survey.

Jordan hosts one of the largest populations of refugees in the world. This study evaluated the capacity, infrastructure, and interest in mobile health interventions to address unmet mental health needs among refugees and non-refugees in Jordan. We surveyed 209 (141 refugees) adults and youth in urban, rural, and refugee camp settings. Survey results indicated that mobile device ownership was lower among refugees than non-refugees (71 % vs. 100 %, respectively). Refugee phone users had less access to smartphones than non-refugees (75 % vs. 96 %, respectively). Refugees and non-refugees reported using mobile devices for diverse activities including calling (83 % vs. 100 %, respectively), texting (28 % vs. 87 %, respectively) social media (45 % vs. 94 %, respectively), watching videos (23 % vs. 90 %, respectively), and studying (34 % vs. 72 %, respectively). Most respondents had reliable access to electricity (75 % vs. 99 %, respectively) and to mobile-cellular service (67 % vs. 97 %, respectively). Refugees and non-refugees differed substantially in their access to WiFi (14 % vs. 91 %, respectively). Both groups identified anger, anxiety, depression, traumatic memories, and eating problems as the most common mental health problems in their communities. Approximately half of refugees (44 %) and non-refugees (50 %) reported that their communities had insufficient or no access to mental health resources. Most refugees (78 %) and non-refugee (87 %) believed that using mobile devices to provide support for people with mental health conditions would be helpful. Overall, both groups' reported access to mobile technologies and openness to digital mental health treatment options suggest that mHealth interventions may be feasible and welcomed in these communities.

Mental Health Priorities in the Arab World: Insights From Jordan.

War, geopolitical instability, and natural disasters have contributed to enormous unmet mental health needs in the Middle East and North Africa. Jordan is a middle-income country that needs internal and international stakeholder engagement and support to effectively provide mental health services to its citizens and to the millions of immigrants and refugees who reside there. This column presents a snapshot of the state of mental health care in Jordan and outlines areas for future investment. Potentially high-yield areas for development include digital health technology, integrated care, and youth-focused interventions.

Cost of Implementing mHealth in Community Mental Health Settings: External Versus Internal Facilitation.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the costs of two implementation models for the mobile health (mHealth) intervention FOCUS in community mental health settings. The external facilitation (EF) approach uses a hub-and-spoke model, in which a central specialist provides support to clinicians and clients at multiple agencies. With the internal facilitation (IF) approach, frontline clinical staff at each center are trained to serve as their organization's local specialists. METHODS: Financial and economic cost data were collected in the context of a hybrid type 3 effectiveness-implementation trial by using a mixed-methods, top-down expenditure analysis with microcosting approaches. The analysis compared the incremental costs of both models and the costs of successfully engaging clients (N=210) at 20 centers. Costs were characterized as start-up or recurrent (personnel, supplies, contracted services, and indirect costs). RESULTS: The average annual financial cost per site was $23,517 for EF and $19,118 for IF. EF yielded more FOCUS users at each center, such that the average monthly financial costs were lower for EF ($167 per client [N=129]) than for IF ($177 per client [N=81]). When using a real-world scenario based on economic costs and a lower organizational indirect rate, the average monthly cost per client was $73 for EF and $59 for IF. Both models reflected substantial cost reductions (about 50%) relative to a previous deployment of FOCUS in a clinical trial. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with IF, EF yielded more clients who received mHealth at community mental health centers and had comparable or lower costs.

Identifying mechanisms of persecutory ideation maintenance with smartphone technology: Examining threat importance, certainty, rumination, and behavior change.

Previous cross-sectional and laboratory research has identified risk factors for persecutory ideation including rumination, negative affect, and safety-seeking behaviors. Questions remain about what in-the-moment factors link general negative affect to PI as well as which maintain PI over time. In the present study, N = 219 individuals completed momentary assessments of PI as well as four factors (attributing threats as certain and important, ruminating, and changing one's behavior in response) proposed to maintain PI over time. Linear mixed effects models were used to analyze multiple time-varying relationships, including these factors predicting negative affect and vice versa, as well as factors predicting maintenance of PI over time. Linear mixed effects models were used to analyze multiple time-varying relationships, examining each PI-related factor predicting negative affect, negative affect predicting each PI-related factor, as well as each factor predicting maintenance of PI over time. All four factors were associated with increases in subsequent day self-reported severity of PI, suggesting all four increased the likelihood of maintaining or worsening next-day PI. Results of this study confirm that the proposed factors are key in maintaining a cycle by which PI and negative affect are maintained over time. These factors may represent targets for momentary interventions.

Developing the Workforce of the Digital Future: mHealth Competency and Fidelity Measurement in Community-Based Care.

Integrating mobile health (mHealth) interventions into settings that serve diverse patient populations requires that prerequisite professional competencies are delineated and that standards for clinical quality assurance can be pragmatically assessed. Heretofore, proposed mHealth competencies have been broad and have lacked a framework to support specific applications. We outline the meta-competencies identified in the literature relevant to mHealth interventions and demonstrate how these meta-competencies can be integrated with population- and intervention-related competencies to help guide a pragmatic approach to competency assessment. We present a use case based on FOCUS-an evidence-based mHealth intervention designed for individuals with serious mental illness and currently being implemented in geographically and demographically diverse community behavioral health settings. Subsequent to identifying the cross-cutting competencies relevant to the target population (outpatients experiencing psychotic symptoms), substratal intervention (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis), and treatment modality (mHealth), we detail the development process of an mHealth fidelity monitoring system (mHealth-FMS). We adhered to a published sequential 5-step process to design a fidelity monitoring system that aligns with our integrated mHealth competency framework and that was guided by best practices prescribed by the Treatment Fidelity Workgroup of the National Institutes of Health Behavior Change Consortium. The mHealth-FMS is intended to enhance both clinical and implementation outcomes by grounding the mHealth interventionist and the system of care in which they operate in the core functions, tasks, knowledge, and competencies associated with system-integrated mHealth delivery. Future research will explore acceptability and feasibility of the mHealth-FMS.

Loneliness in the Daily Lives of People With Mood and Psychotic Disorders.

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Loneliness, the subjective experience of feeling alone, is associated with physical and psychological impairments. While there is an extensive literature linking loneliness to psychopathology, limited work has examined loneliness in daily life in those with serious mental illness. We hypothesized that trait and momentary loneliness would be transdiagnostic and relate to symptoms and measures of daily functioning. STUDY DESIGN: The current study utilized ecological momentary assessment and passive sensing to examine loneliness in those with schizophrenia (N = 59), bipolar disorder (N = 61), unipolar depression (N = 60), remitted unipolar depression (N = 51), and nonclinical comparisons (N = 82) to examine relationships of both trait and momentary loneliness to symptoms and social functioning in daily life. STUDY RESULTS: Findings suggest that both trait and momentary loneliness are higher in those with psychopathology (F(4,284) = 28.00, P < .001, ηp2 = 0.27), and that loneliness significantly relates to social functioning beyond negative symptoms and depression (ß = -0.44, t = 6.40, P < .001). Furthermore, passive sensing measures showed that greater movement (ß = -0.56, t = -3.29, P = .02) and phone calls (ß = -0.22, t = 12.79, P = .04), but not text messaging, were specifically related to decreased loneliness in daily life. Individuals higher in trait loneliness show stronger relationships between momentary loneliness and social context and emotions in everyday life. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide further evidence pointing to the importance of loneliness transdiagnostically and its strong relation to social functioning. Furthermore, we show that passive sensing technology can be used to measure behaviors related to loneliness in daily life that may point to potential treatment implications or early detection markers of loneliness.

Perception and appropriation of a web-based recovery narratives intervention: qualitative interview study.

Introduction: Mental health recovery narratives are widely available to the public, and can benefit people affected by mental health problems. The NEON Intervention is a novel web-based digital health intervention providing access to the NEON Collection of recovery narratives. The NEON Intervention was found to be effective and cost-effective in the NEON-O Trial for people with nonpsychosis mental health problems (ISRCTN63197153), and has also been evaluated in the NEON Trial for people with psychosis experience (ISRCTN11152837). We aimed to document NEON Intervention experiences, through an integrated process evaluation. Methods: Analysis of interviews with a purposive sample of intervention arm participants who had completed trial participation. Results: We interviewed 34 NEON Trial and 20 NEON-O Trial participants (mean age 40.4 years). Some users accessed narratives through the NEON Intervention almost daily, whilst others used it infrequently or not at all. Motivations for trial participation included: exploring the NEON Intervention as an alternative or addition to existing mental health provision; searching for answers about mental health experiences; developing their practice as a mental health professional (for a subset who were mental health professionals); claiming payment vouchers. High users (10 + narrative accesses) described three forms of appropriation: distracting from difficult mental health experiences; providing an emotional boost; sustaining a sense of having a social support network. Most participants valued the scale of the NEON Collection (n = 659 narratives), but some found it overwhelming. Many felt they could describe the characteristics of a desired narrative that would benefit their mental health. Finding a narrative meeting their desires enhanced engagement, but not finding one reduced engagement. Narratives in the NEON Collection were perceived as authentic if they acknowledged the difficult reality of mental health experiences, appeared to describe real world experiences, and described mental health experiences similar to those of the participant. Discussion: We present recommendations for digital health interventions incorporating collections of digital narratives: (1) make the scale and diversity of the collection visible; (2) provide delivery mechanisms that afford appropriation; (3) enable contributors to produce authentic narratives; (4) enable learning by healthcare professionals; (5) consider use to address loneliness.

Mobile App Promoting Resilience in Stress Management for Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer are at risk of poor psychosocial outcomes. AYAs grew up with the internet and digital technology, and mobile Health (mHealth) psychosocial interventions have the potential to overcome care access barriers. OBJECTIVE: This pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed to establish the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a fully automated mobile app version of the Promoting Resilience in Stress Management intervention (mPRISM). Promoting Resilience in Stress Management is an evidence-based intervention developed in collaboration with AYAs, based on stress and coping theory, resilience theory, and evidence-based coping strategies. We hypothesized that mPRISM would be feasible, acceptable, and appropriate. METHODS: This is a parallel, 2-arm, single-site pilot RCT with a waitlist control design. The study will recruit 80 AYAs with cancer from a clinic. Eligible AYAs are aged 12 to 25 years, within 12 months of a new cancer diagnosis, receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy, speak, read, or write in English, and are cognitively able to participate in study procedures. Recruitment by clinical research coordinators will occur remotely by phone, video, or text. Participants will be randomized to psychosocial usual care (UC) alone or UC plus mPRISM for an 8-week intervention period, and will remain unblinded to study condition. Enrolled participants will complete surveys at baseline before randomization, 8 weeks, and 3-month follow-up. Using a waitlist design, the UC arm will receive mPRISM upon completion of 3-month follow-up surveys. Those in the UC arm will complete 2 additional measurement points at immediate posttreatment and 3 months later. The primary outcomes of interest are feasibility, defined as ≥60% enrollment and ≥70% retention (ie, percentage of participants who completed the study), and "feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness" as defined by cut-off scores ≥4/5 on 3 brief validated implementation outcome measures (feasibility of implementation measure, acceptability of intervention measure [AIM], intervention appropriateness measure [IAM]). We will apply top-box scoring for the implementation measures. Exploratory outcomes of interest include patient-reported health-related quality of life, resilience, distress, anxiety, depression, pain, and sleep. We will conduct an intention-to-treat analysis to compare the outcomes of the mPRISM arm versus the control arm with covariate-adjusted regression models. We will summarize individual digital usage metrics using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Since September 2023, we have enrolled 20 participants and recruitment is ongoing. CONCLUSIONS: Although our previous work suggests AYAs with cancer are interested in mHealth psychosocial interventions, such interventions have not yet been sufficiently evaluated or implemented among AYA oncology patients. mPRISM may serve as a potential mHealth intervention to fill this gap. In this study, we will test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of mPRISM. This work will inform future larger-scale RCTs powered for efficacy outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05842902; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05842902. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/57950.

Combining mHealth Technology and Pharmacotherapy to Improve Mental Health Outcomes and Reduce Human Rights Abuses in West Africa: Intervention Field Trial.

Background: In West Africa, healers greatly outnumber trained mental health professionals. People with serious mental illness (SMI) are often seen by healers in "prayer camps" where they may also experience human rights abuses. We developed "M&M," an 8-week-long dual-pronged intervention involving (1) a smartphone-delivered toolkit designed to expose healers to brief psychosocial interventions and encourage them to preserve human rights (M-Healer app), and (2) a visiting nurse who provides medications to their patients (Mobile Nurse). Objective: We examined the feasibility, acceptability, safety, and preliminary effectiveness of the M&M intervention in real-world prayer camp settings. Methods: We conducted a single-arm field trial of M&M with people with SMI and healers at a prayer camp in Ghana. Healers were provided smartphones with M-Healer installed and were trained by practice facilitators to use the digital toolkit. In parallel, a study nurse visited their prayer camp to administer medications to their patients. Clinical assessors administered study measures to participants with SMI at pretreatment (baseline), midtreatment (4 weeks) and post treatment (8 weeks). Results: Seventeen participants were enrolled and most (n=15, 88.3%) were retained. Participants had an average age of 44.3 (SD 13.9) years and 59% (n=10) of them were male. Fourteen (82%) participants had a diagnosis of schizophrenia and 2 (18%) were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Four healers were trained to use M-Healer. On average, they self-initiated app use 31.9 (SD 28.9) times per week. Healers watched an average of 19.1 (SD 21.2) videos, responded to 1.5 (SD 2.4) prompts, and used the app for 5.3 (SD 2.7) days weekly. Pre-post analyses revealed a significant and clinically meaningful reduction in psychiatric symptom severity (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale score range 52.3 to 30.9; Brief Symptom Inventory score range 76.4 to 27.9), psychological distress (Talbieh Brief Distress Inventory score range 37.7 to 16.9), shame (Other as Shamer Scale score range 41.9 to 28.5), and stigma (Brief Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale score range 11.8 to 10.3). We recorded a significant reduction in days chained (1.6 to 0.5) and a promising trend for reduction in the days of forced fasting (2.6 to 0.0, P=.06). We did not identify significant pre-post changes in patient-reported working alliance with healers (Working Alliance Inventory), depressive symptom severity (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), quality of life (Lehman Quality of Life Interview for the Mentally Ill), beliefs about medication (Beliefs about Medications Questionnaire-General Harm subscale), or other human rights abuses. No major side effects, health and safety violations, or serious adverse events occurred over the course of the trial. Conclusions: The M&M intervention proved to be feasible, acceptable, safe, and clinically promising. Preliminary findings suggest that the M-Healer toolkit may have shifted healers' behaviors at the prayer camp so that they commit fewer human rights abuses.

Mobile technologies among people with serious mental illness: opportunities for future services.

Several national bodies have proposed using mobile technology to improve mental health services. But rates of current use and interest in using technology to enhance services among individuals with serious mental illness are uncertain. The authors surveyed 1,592 individuals with serious mental illness regarding their use of mobile devices and interest in using mobile technologies to enhance mental health services. Seventy-two percent of survey respondents reported currently owning a mobile device, a rate approximately 12 % lower than the general adult population. The most common uses were for talking, followed by texting, and internet activities. Both mobile device users and nonusers expressed interest in future mobile services.

User-Centered Development of Bolster, an mHealth Intervention for Early Psychosis Caregivers: Needs Assessment, Prototyping, and Field Trial.

BACKGROUND: Caregivers play a critical role in the treatment and recovery of youth and young adults at risk for psychosis. Caregivers often report feeling isolated, overwhelmed, and lacking in resources. Mobile health (mHealth) has the potential to provide scalable, accessible, and in-the-moment support to caregivers. To date, few if any mHealth resources have been developed specifically for this population. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to conduct user-centered design and testing of an mHealth intervention to support early psychosis caregivers. METHODS: We conducted a multiphase user-centered development process to develop the Bolster mobile app. In phase 1, a total of 21 caregivers were recruited to participate in a qualitative needs assessment and respond to an initial prototype of the Bolster platform. Content analysis was used to identify key needs and design objectives, which guided the development of the Bolster mobile app. In phase 2, a total of 11 caregivers were recruited to participate in a 1-week field trial wherein they provided qualitative and quantitative feedback regarding the usability and acceptability of Bolster; in addition, they provided baseline and posttest assessments of the measures of distress, illness appraisals, and family communication. RESULTS: In phase 1, participants identified psychoeducation, communication coaching, a guide to seeking services, and support for coping as areas to address. Live prototype interaction sessions led to multiple design objectives, including ensuring that messages from the platform were actionable and tailored to the caregiver experience, delivering messages in multiple modalities (eg, video and text), and eliminating a messaging-style interface. These conclusions were used to develop the final version of Bolster tested in the field trial. In phase 2, of the 11 caregivers, 10 (91%) reported that they would use Bolster if they had access to it and would recommend it to another caregiver. They also reported marked changes in their appraisals of illness (Cohen d=0.55-0.68), distress (Cohen d=1.77), and expressed emotion (Cohen d=0.52). CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this study is the first to design an mHealth intervention specifically for early psychosis caregivers. Preliminary data suggest that Bolster is usable, acceptable, and promising to improve key targets and outcomes. A future fully powered clinical trial will help determine whether mHealth can reduce caregiver burdens and increase engagement in services among individuals affected by psychosis.