A comparison of two delivery modalities of a mobile phone based assessment for severe mental illness: Native smartphone application vs. SMS text only implementations.

J. Ainsworth, J.E. Palmier-Claus, M. Machin, C. Barrowclough, G. Dunn, A. Rogers, Iain Buchan, E. Barkus, S. Kapur, T. Wykes, R.S. Hopkins, S.W. Lewis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Mobile-phone based assessment may represent a cost- and clinically-effective method of monitoring psychotic symptoms in real-time. There are several software options, including the use of native smartphone applications and text messages (SMS). Little is known about the strengths and limitations of these two approaches in monitoring symptoms in individuals with severe mental illness. Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare two different delivery modalities of the same diagnostic assessment for individuals with non-affective psychosis – a native smartphone application employing a graphical, touch user interface against an SMS text only implementation. The overall hypothesis of the study was that patient participants with serious mental illness would find both delivery modalities feasible and acceptable to use, measured by the quantitative post-assessment feedback questionnaire scores, the number of data points completed and the time-taken to complete the assessment. It was also predicted that a native smartphone application would: i) yield a greater number of data-points, ii) take less time, and iii) be more positively appraised by patient participant users, than the text-based system. Methods: A randomised repeated measures cross over design was employed. Participants, with currently-treated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (Fourth Edition) schizophrenia or related disorders (n=24), were randomly allocated to completing six-days of assessment (four sets of questions per day) with a native smartphone application or the SMS text only implementation. There was then a one-week break before completing a further six days with the alternative delivery modality. Quantitative feedback questionnaires were administered at the end of each period of sampling. Results: A greater proportion of data-points were completed with the native smartphone application in comparison to the SMS text only implementation (β =-.25 (SE=.11), p =.02), which also took significantly less time to complete (β=.78 (SE= .09), P
Original languageEnglish
JournalJOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Keywords

  • Mobile-phone, psychosis, assessment, schizophrenia, text-messages.

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