BACKGROUND: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is a measurement methodology that involves the repeated collection of real-time data on participants\' behavior and experience in their natural environment. While EMA allows researchers to gain valuable insights into dynamic behavioral processes, the need for frequent self-reporting can be burdensome and disruptive. Compliance with EMA protocols is important for accurate, unbiased sampling; yet, there is no \"gold standard\" for EMA study design to promote compliance.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to use a factorial design to identify optimal study design factors, or combinations of factors, for achieving the highest completion rates for smartphone-based EMAs.
METHODS: Participants recruited from across the United States were randomized to 1 of 2 levels on each of 5 design factors in a 2×2×2×2×2 design (32 conditions): factor 1-number of questions per EMA survey (15 vs 25); factor 2-number of EMAs per day (2 vs 4); factor 3-EMA prompting schedule (random vs fixed times); factor 4-payment type (US $1 paid per EMA vs payment based on the percentage of EMAs completed); and factor 5-EMA response scale type (ie, slider-type response scale vs Likert-type response scale; this is the only within-person factor; each participant was randomized to complete slider- or Likert-type questions for the first 14 days or second 14 days of the study period). All participants were asked to complete prompted EMAs for 28 days. The effect of each factor on EMA completion was examined, as well as the effects of factor interactions on EMA completion. Finally, relations between demographic and socioenvironmental factors and EMA completion were examined.
RESULTS: Participants (N=411) were aged 48.4 (SD 12.1) years; 75.7% (311/411) were female, 72.5% (298/411) were White, 18.0% (74/411) were Black or African American, 2.7% (11/411) were Asian, 1.5% (6/411) were American Indian or Alaska Native, 5.4% (22/411) belonged to more than one race, and 9.6% (38/396) were Hispanic/Latino. On average, participants completed 83.8% (28,948/34,552) of scheduled EMAs, and 96.6% (397/411) of participants completed the follow-up survey. Results indicated that there were no significant main effects of the design factors on compliance and no significant interactions. Analyses also indicated that older adults, those without a history of substance use problems, and those without current depression tended to complete more EMAs than their counterparts. No other demographic or socioenvironmental factors were related to EMA completion rates. Finally, the app was well liked (ie, system usability scale score=82.7), and there was a statistically significant positive association between liking the app and EMA compliance.
CONCLUSIONS: Study results have broad implications for developing best practices guidelines for future studies that use EMA methodologies.
BACKGROUND: ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT05194228; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05194228.

Research on non-cognitive features of dementia traditionally focusses on neuropsychiatric symptoms and challenging behavior and thus on negative aspects of the disease. Despite the clinical observation that many patients frequently report subjective well-being and often express positive emotions there is only little research on the definition, measurement and determinants of subjective well-being and happiness in people living with dementia. Furthermore, the few studies there are, examined happiness using retrospective questionnaires and the accounts of relatives or caregivers. However, in dementia, the experiencing self becomes more significant since past and future thinking are fading into the background. Here, we review the relative scarce literature in this field, discuss different psychological constructs and their applicability for dementia research, and suggest methods for measuring the addressed constructs in people with dementia. In particular, we propose methodology to study happiness and positive emotions in the experienced moment of the participants using ecological momentary assessments (EMA). We believe that adequate measures of momentary subjective well-being might become an important outcome parameter in clinical dementia trials beyond the currently used quality of life measures.

BACKGROUND: Social factors can play an important role in the development and maintenance of psychosis. Clarifying this relationship is vital for advancing theoretical understanding and development of targeted interventions. Psychosis is increasingly researched with an experience sampling methodology (ESM), which provides an ecologically valid approach, that reduces recall biases. Studies examining momentary associations between social factors and psychosis have not yet been summarised.
METHODS: We identified 29 ESM studies investigating associations between social factors and positive psychotic experiences through a pre-registered systematic search of the published literature.
RESULTS: Being alone did not predict increase in psychosis; however, appraisals and feelings associated with being alone such as feeling socially disconnected, lonely and unwanted did. Being with familiar company was found to reduce psychosis experiences but feeling stressed by the current company increased psychosis.
CONCLUSIONS: While issues with sample size and generalisability mean these results should be interpreted with caution, some putative conclusions can be made. Individuals with psychosis or emerging symptoms should be offered interventions that improve social networks such as peer support, community participation and engagement skills training. These individuals may also benefit from virtual reality or compassion-based interventions which aim to dampen perceived social threat. Moreover, digital interventions which monitor changes in social variables that predict relapse in symptoms would allow early intervention to prevent mental health crises.

Self-injurious thoughts and behaviours (SITBs) are a leading cause of death, and interpersonal processes (IPs) appear to play a role in SITBs. This systematic review synthesises the literature on IPs and SITBs in daily life and addresses four critical questions: (1) Which IPs have been assessed and how, (2) How are differences in IPs between individuals associated with SITBs?, (3) How are differences in IPs within individuals associated with SITBs? and (4) Do IPs relate differently to self-injurious thoughts than behaviours? Our review followed PRISMA guidelines and eligible literature was screened until 25 April 2024. We identified 58 Experience Sampling studies (32.76% daily-diary studies) of which most focused on IPs from major SITBs theories (e.g., thwarted belongingness) but largely used inconsistent operationalizations. Results from 39 studies investigating within-person associations were mixed. Based on 26 studies, whether differences in IPs between individuals relate to SITBs remains unclear. Three studies have investigated whether IPs relate to the transition from thoughts to behaviours, but temporal models are needed to draw firm conclusions. Studies investigating IPs and SITBs in daily life are largely inconclusive. Psychometrically validated measures are warranted, and future daily-life studies would benefit from drawing on ideation-to-action frameworks.

Poor sleep is becoming increasingly prevalent and is associated with adverse health outcomes. Sunlight exposure may improve sleep by regulating circadian rhythms, increasing vitamin D, and influencing melatonin production. However, research on the sunlight-sleep association is limited, especially outside of cross-sectional designs. This study examined associations between daily self-reported sunlight exposure and next-night sleep quality in 103 adults for up to 70 days. The timing of sunlight exposure predicted next-night sleep quality. Specifically, morning sunlight exposure, relative to no sunlight, predicted better sleep quality based on responses to the brief Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index. Duration of sunlight exposure was generally not associated with sleep quality. Morning sunlight may regulate circadian rhythms, subsequently improving sleep. Findings have potential implications for sleep interventions and daylight savings time policies. Future research should test whether morning sunlight exposure can enhance the effectiveness of sleep interventions.

The tendency for individuals to mind wander is often measured using experience sampling methods in which probe questions embedded within computerized cognitive tasks attempt to catch episodes of off-task thought at random intervals during task performance. However, mind-wandering probe questions and response options are often chosen ad hoc and vary between studies with extant little guidance as to the psychometric consequences of these methodological decisions. In the present study, we examined the psychometric properties of several common approaches for assessing mind wandering using methods from item response theory (IRT). IRT latent modeling demonstrated that measurement information was generally distributed across the range of trait estimates according to when probes were presented in time. Probes presented earlier in time provided more information about individuals with greater tendency to mind wandering than probes presented later. Furthermore, mind-wandering ratings made on a continuous scale or using multiple categorical rating options provided more information about individuals\' latent mind-wandering tendency - across a broader range of the trait continuum - than ratings dichotomized into on-task and off-task categories. In addition, IRT provided evidence that reports of \"task-related thoughts\" contribute to the task-focused dimension of the construct continuum, providing justification for studies conceptualizing these responses as a kind of task-related focus. Together, we hope these findings will help guide researchers hoping to maximize the measurement precision of their mind wandering assessment procedures.

Previous findings demonstrate that people often do not feel how they want to feel, supporting the distinction between \"actual affect\" and \"ideal affect.\" But are there certain activities that reduce the discrepancy between actual and ideal affect? Based on flow theory and socioemotional selectivity theory, we examined whether the discrepancy between people\'s actual and ideal positive affect would be smaller during activities that were more conducive to flow (a state of intense absorption and concentration), pleasant, and familiar. In Study 1, U.S. participants aged 17-79 (N = 393) reported their ideal affect and how they felt during activities with varying degrees of challenges and skills. For both low-arousal positive affect (LAP) and high-arousal positive affect (HAP), participants reported smaller actual-ideal affect discrepancies during flow-conducive activities (when skills matched challenges). Study 2 was a 14-day experience sampling study, in which Hong Kong participants aged 18-83 (Nindividual = 109) reported their momentary actual and ideal affect, and how pleasant and familiar their activities were (Nexperience = 3,815). Greater activity familiarity was associated with smaller discrepancies in actual-ideal LAP, while greater activity pleasantness was associated with smaller discrepancies in actual-ideal HAP. These findings provide insights on the activities that help people achieve their ideal affect more easily.

BACKGROUND: Digital phenotyping and monitoring tools are the most promising approaches to automatically detect upcoming depressive episodes. Especially, linguistic style has been seen as a potential behavioral marker of depression, as cross-sectional studies showed, for example, less frequent use of positive emotion words, intensified use of negative emotion words, and more self-references in patients with depression compared to healthy controls. However, longitudinal studies are sparse and therefore it remains unclear whether within-person fluctuations in depression severity are associated with individuals\' linguistic style.
METHODS: To capture affective states and concomitant speech samples longitudinally, we used an ambulatory assessment approach sampling multiple times a day via smartphones in patients diagnosed with depressive disorder undergoing sleep deprivation therapy. This intervention promises a rapid change of affective symptoms within a short period of time, assuring sufficient variability in depressive symptoms. We extracted word categories from the transcribed speech samples using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count.
RESULTS: Our analyses revealed that more pleasant affective momentary states (lower reported depression severity, lower negative affective state, higher positive affective state, (positive) valence, energetic arousal and calmness) are mirrored in the use of less negative emotion words and more positive emotion words.
CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that a patient\'s linguistic style, especially the use of positive and negative emotion words, is associated with self-reported affective states and thus is a promising feature for speech-based automated monitoring and prediction of upcoming episodes, ultimately leading to better patient care.

BACKGROUND: The racial/ethnic and gender disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality in the United States are evident. Across nearly every metric, non-Hispanic Black women have poorer overall cardiovascular health. Emerging evidence shows a disproportionately high burden of increased CVD risk factors in Black women of childbearing age, which has a far-reaching impact on both maternal and child outcomes, resulting in premature onset of CVD and further widens the racial disparities in CVD. There is growing recognition that the fundamental driver of persistent racial/ethnic disparities in CVD, as well as disparities in behavioral risk factors such as physical activity and sleep, is structural racism. Further, the lived personal experience of racial discrimination not only has a negative impact on health behaviors, but also links to various physiological pathways to CVD risks, such as internalized stress resulting in a pro-inflammatory state. Limited research, however, has examined the interaction between daily experience and health behaviors, which are influenced by upstream social determinants of health, and the downstream effect on biological/physiological indicators of cardiovascular health in non-pregnant Black women of childbearing age.
METHODS: The BLOOM Study is an observational study that combines real-time ambulatory assessments over a 10-day monitoring period with in-depth cross-sectional lab-based physiological and biological assessments. We will use a wrist-worn actigraphy device to capture 24-h movement behaviors and electronic ecological momentary assessment to capture perceived discrimination, microaggression, and stress. Blood pressure will be captured continuously through a wristband. Saliva samples will be self-collected to assess cortisol level as a biomarker of psychological stress. Lab assessments include a fasting venous blood sample, and assessment of various indices of peripheral and cerebral vascular function/health. Participants\' address or primary residence will be used to obtain neighborhood-level built environmental and social environmental characteristics. We plan to enroll 80 healthy Black women who are between 18 and 49 years old for this study.
CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study will inform the development of multilevel (i.e., individual, interpersonal, and social-environmental levels) lifestyle interventions tailored to Black women based on their lived experiences with the goal of reducing CVD risk.
RESULTS:
UNASSIGNED: NCT06150989.

OBJECTIVE: Schizotypy is a useful and unifying construct for examining the etiology, development, and expression of schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology. The positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy dimensions are associated with distinct patterns of schizophrenia-spectrum symptoms and impairment. Furthermore, they are differentiated by mean levels of psychotic-like, suspicious, negative, and disorganized schizotypic experiences in daily life, and by temporal dynamics of affect. The schizotypy dimensions were thus hypothesized to be differentiated by the temporal dynamics of schizotypic experiences in daily life.
METHODS: The present study employed experience sampling methodology in a large nonclinically ascertained sample (n = 693) to examine the associations of multidimensional schizotypy with psychotic-like, suspicious, negative, and disorganized schizotypic experiences in daily life, as well as with their temporal dynamics (variability, reactivity, inertia, and instability).
RESULTS: We replicated the mean-level associations between multidimensional schizotypy and schizotypic experiences in daily life. Furthermore, positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy demonstrated hypothesized, differential patterns of temporal dynamics of schizotypic experiences. Disorganized schizotypy demonstrated the most robust associations, including intensity, variability, and inertia of disorganized schizotypic experiences. Disorganized schizotypy also moderated reactivity of psychotic-like and disorganized schizotypic experiences following previously reported stress. Positive schizotypy was associated with intensity and variability of psychotic-like experiences. Negative schizotypy was associated with intensity and variability of negative schizotypic experiences.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that schizotypy dimensions can be differentiated by both mean levels and temporal patterns of psychotic-like, suspicious, negative, and disorganized schizotypic experiences in daily life, with disorganized schizotypy uniquely characterized by stress reactivity.