Smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment for Chinese patients with depression: An exploratory study in Taiwan
Abstract
Mobile mental health has a potential to improve the recognition and management of Chinese patients with depression. Currently, evidence regarding ecological momentary assessment (EMA) for depressive disorder mostly originates from Western studies. Herein, we examined the validity of smartphone-based EMA for depression in Chinese patients and explored the determinants of use. A smartphone application, iHOPE, was used to perform daily EMA of depression, anxiety, sleep and cognitive performance. Outpatients with depressive disorder were recruited to use iHOPE for 8 weeks. Clinical characteristics and smartphone use patterns were assessed at baseline. We enrolled 59 Chinese patients with depression. In 8 weeks, participants interacted with iHOPE for an average of 10.8 (SD=12.3) days; a trend of decreased frequency of use (p=0.03) was observed. Scores of HAM-D at baseline was associated with, of the first 2 weeks, scores of PHQ-9 (p=0.005), EMA of depression (p=0.003) and anxiety (p<0.001), and poorer sleep quality (p=0.023). Among the demographic, clinical and smartphone-use variables examined, only limited internet package for smartphone (<500M per month) predicted higher use of iHOPE (p=0.04). The present study provides initial evidence for the feasibility of smartphone-based EMA in Chinese patients with depression. Level of engagement needs to be improved before determining its clinical usefulness.
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A few selected EMA studies did not report compliance information.
“A few studies did not report this information [35,40,41,42,51,57,60].”
From Current state and future directions of technology-based ecological momentary assessment and intervention for major depressive disorder: a systematic review (2019) · cites this paper as [41]
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- Authors
- Hung, S., Li, M.-S., Chen, Y.-L., Chiang, J.-H., Chen, Y.-Y., & Hung, G. C.-L.
- Affiliations
- Taipei City Hospital (TW)
- Taipei Municipal YangMing Hospital (TW)
- National Cheng Kung University (TW)
- Corresponding author
- Hung, Galen Chin-Lun
- Venue
- Asian Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-10
- Volume
- 23
- Pages
- 131-136
- ISSN
- 1876-2018 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2509963317
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 6.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Asian Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Keywords
- ecological momentary assessment, depression, Chinese patients, mobile mental health, user engagement, sleep quality, anxiety, cognitive performance
- MeSH terms
- Smartphone, Ecological Momentary Assessment, Adolescent, Adult, Depressive Disorder, Feasibility Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pilot Projects, Taiwan, Telemedicine, Young Adult
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