Clinical Targets and Attitudes Toward Implementing Digital Health Tools for Remote Measurement in Treatment for Depression: Focus Groups With Patients and Clinicians
BackgroundRemote measurement technologies, such as smartphones and wearable devices, can improve treatment outcomes for depression through enhanced illness characterization and monitoring. However, little is known about digital outcomes that are clinically meaningful to patie...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2022-08-01
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| Series: | JMIR Mental Health |
| Online Access: | https://mental.jmir.org/2022/8/e38934 |
| _version_ | 1797734854182305792 |
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| author | Valeria de Angel Serena Lewis Katie M White Faith Matcham Matthew Hotopf |
| author_facet | Valeria de Angel Serena Lewis Katie M White Faith Matcham Matthew Hotopf |
| author_sort | Valeria de Angel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundRemote measurement technologies, such as smartphones and wearable devices, can improve treatment outcomes for depression through enhanced illness characterization and monitoring. However, little is known about digital outcomes that are clinically meaningful to patients and clinicians. Moreover, if these technologies are to be successfully implemented within treatment, stakeholders’ views on the barriers to and facilitators of their implementation in treatment must be considered.
ObjectiveThis study aims to identify clinically meaningful targets for digital health research in depression and explore attitudes toward their implementation in psychological services.
MethodsA grounded theory approach was used on qualitative data from 3 focus groups of patients with a current diagnosis of depression and clinicians with >6 months of experience with delivering psychotherapy (N=22).
ResultsEmerging themes on clinical targets fell into the following two main categories: promoters and markers of change. The former are behaviors that participants engage in to promote mental health, and the latter signal a change in mood. These themes were further subdivided into external changes (changes in behavior) or internal changes (changes in thoughts or feelings) and mapped with potential digital sensors. The following six implementation acceptability themes emerged: technology-related factors, information and data management, emotional support, cognitive support, increased self-awareness, and clinical utility.
ConclusionsThe promoters versus markers of change differentiation have implications for a causal model of digital phenotyping in depression, which this paper presents. Internal versus external subdivisions are helpful in determining which factors are more susceptible to being measured by using active versus passive methods. The implications for implementation within psychotherapy are discussed with regard to treatment effectiveness, service provision, and patient and clinician experience. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:49:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6ccc0fd35a53488a8dbc0a2a216a9607 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2368-7959 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:49:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Mental Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-6ccc0fd35a53488a8dbc0a2a216a96072023-08-28T22:52:57ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Mental Health2368-79592022-08-0198e3893410.2196/38934Clinical Targets and Attitudes Toward Implementing Digital Health Tools for Remote Measurement in Treatment for Depression: Focus Groups With Patients and CliniciansValeria de Angelhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5109-3636Serena Lewishttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4962-9673Katie M Whitehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0925-0175Faith Matchamhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4055-904XMatthew Hotopfhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3980-4466 BackgroundRemote measurement technologies, such as smartphones and wearable devices, can improve treatment outcomes for depression through enhanced illness characterization and monitoring. However, little is known about digital outcomes that are clinically meaningful to patients and clinicians. Moreover, if these technologies are to be successfully implemented within treatment, stakeholders’ views on the barriers to and facilitators of their implementation in treatment must be considered. ObjectiveThis study aims to identify clinically meaningful targets for digital health research in depression and explore attitudes toward their implementation in psychological services. MethodsA grounded theory approach was used on qualitative data from 3 focus groups of patients with a current diagnosis of depression and clinicians with >6 months of experience with delivering psychotherapy (N=22). ResultsEmerging themes on clinical targets fell into the following two main categories: promoters and markers of change. The former are behaviors that participants engage in to promote mental health, and the latter signal a change in mood. These themes were further subdivided into external changes (changes in behavior) or internal changes (changes in thoughts or feelings) and mapped with potential digital sensors. The following six implementation acceptability themes emerged: technology-related factors, information and data management, emotional support, cognitive support, increased self-awareness, and clinical utility. ConclusionsThe promoters versus markers of change differentiation have implications for a causal model of digital phenotyping in depression, which this paper presents. Internal versus external subdivisions are helpful in determining which factors are more susceptible to being measured by using active versus passive methods. The implications for implementation within psychotherapy are discussed with regard to treatment effectiveness, service provision, and patient and clinician experience.https://mental.jmir.org/2022/8/e38934 |
| spellingShingle | Valeria de Angel Serena Lewis Katie M White Faith Matcham Matthew Hotopf Clinical Targets and Attitudes Toward Implementing Digital Health Tools for Remote Measurement in Treatment for Depression: Focus Groups With Patients and Clinicians JMIR Mental Health |
| title | Clinical Targets and Attitudes Toward Implementing Digital Health Tools for Remote Measurement in Treatment for Depression: Focus Groups With Patients and Clinicians |
| title_full | Clinical Targets and Attitudes Toward Implementing Digital Health Tools for Remote Measurement in Treatment for Depression: Focus Groups With Patients and Clinicians |
| title_fullStr | Clinical Targets and Attitudes Toward Implementing Digital Health Tools for Remote Measurement in Treatment for Depression: Focus Groups With Patients and Clinicians |
| title_full_unstemmed | Clinical Targets and Attitudes Toward Implementing Digital Health Tools for Remote Measurement in Treatment for Depression: Focus Groups With Patients and Clinicians |
| title_short | Clinical Targets and Attitudes Toward Implementing Digital Health Tools for Remote Measurement in Treatment for Depression: Focus Groups With Patients and Clinicians |
| title_sort | clinical targets and attitudes toward implementing digital health tools for remote measurement in treatment for depression focus groups with patients and clinicians |
| url | https://mental.jmir.org/2022/8/e38934 |
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