Development of Sensor-Informed Smartphone-Based Mental Health Intervention for Early Psychosis
Mclean Hospital
Summary
The aim of this trial is to evaluate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of using passive smartphone sensors to detect moments of heightened negative mood and inform the timing of brief mental health interventions, such as mindfulness exercises and psychoeducation, in adults with early psychosis.
Description
Negative mood symptoms are highly prevalent in early psychosis and strongly linked to long-term functional impairment and risk of relapse. Smartphone-based interventions offer a scalable and accessible solution for delivering personalized mental health support in daily life. The goal of this micro randomized trial (MRT) is to evaluate the feasibility of using passive smartphone sensor data and machine learning to identify optimal moments for delivering smartphone app-based brief mental health interventions such as mindfulness exercises and psychoeducation, specifically moments when individual…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–50 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18-50 years * History of DSM-5 psychotic disorder (e.g., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, psychosis not otherwise specified) * Current elevated mood symptoms, defined as mild or greater depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-8 score ≥5) or anxiety symptoms (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 score ≥5) * Own a personal iPhone or Android smartphone * Willing and able to provide informed consent * English-speaking Exclusion Criteria: * Active suicidal ideation with both intent and a specific plan. * Current substance use disorder requiring acute treatme…
Interventions
- BehavioralSmartphone-based Mindfulness Exercise
A brief approximately 1 minute video guided mindfulness based breathing exercise designed to anchor attention to the present moment and reduce negative affect in the moment by guiding participants through a structured breathing technique.
- BehavioralSmartphone-based Psychoeducation
A brief text or video based psychoeducation message delivered via the smartphone app. Content covers the nature of emotions and emotion regulation strategies, aimed at improving emotional awareness and coping skills in the moment.
- BehavioralNeutral Control Message
A brief text or video based message containing random facts delivered via the MetricWire smartphone app. This serves as an active control condition to allow comparison with the active intervention conditions.
Location
- McLean HospitalBelmont, Massachusetts