Detailed contribution information
| Contribution title | 3059 - Robin: A Smartphone Application approach to support treatment of (attenuated) psychotic symptoms in adolescents |
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| Contribution code | PS03-54 (P) |
| Authors | |
| Form of presentation | Poster |
| Topic |
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| Abstract |
Background: The use of mobile technologies has increased in mental health services. Primarily, mobile technologies were utilized to collect research data. Recently, research projects have examined feasibility and validity of mobile technologies supporting therapy. First research results using mobile technologies in the treatment of psychotic disorders are promising, however little is known about apps enhancing treatment approaches for attenuated psychotic symptoms. Despite current analysis showed, that especially young people would be interested in mobile technologies, there is a lack of investigations in this population. To address these gaps, we developed “Robin”, a specific smartphone application to support the therapy of adolescents with attenuated or full-blown psychotic symptoms. We will provide first data about feasibility, usability and acceptance of a specific application developed for adolescents with psychotic and with attenuated psychotic symptoms. Methods: Based on existing literature, our experience in research within the field of early recognition and clinical expertise within a specialized outpatient care for adolescents with (attenuated) psychotic symptoms, a first modular version of the app was developed. The smartphone application targets medication adherence, real-time symptom assessment and provides help coping with symptoms and stressful situations in daily life. A pilot investigation of child and adolescent therapists (N=10) and patients with at-risk symptoms or a diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (N=7) was conducted. Participants completed a questionnaire regarding usability and acceptance of the app. We also investigated how the patients used the app in their daily life by analyzing the user data from the app. Results: The data from our pilot-project showed, that “Robin” was accepted by clinicians and patients. All clinicians (N=10) said they would like to use the app “Robin” to enrich their therapeutic approaches. All patients (N=7, Age 14-18) in the pilot project used the app in their daily life. Especially modules with information about symptoms and coping strategies were frequently used. Conclusions: First positive feedbacks from the pilot project were used to optimize and adapt the app. We are now planning a systematic clinical interventions study for testing the efficiency of our app. The aim is to start with the intervention study in the beginning of 2017. |