Rationale and protocol for using a smartphone application to study autism spectrum disorders: SMARTAUTISM

Area of Science:

• Pediatric neurology and developmental disorders.
• Digital health and mobile applications in healthcare.
• Family psychology and mental health.

Background:

• Longitudinal studies on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptom evolution are scarce, often using infrequent measurements.
• Real-world, frequent data collection is crucial for understanding daily life impacts of ASD.
• Existing research highlights the need for tools to monitor ASD symptom changes and their effects on families.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the 6-month evolution of a child's ASD symptoms and their impact on family quality of life and parental psychological status.
• To assess the feasibility and usability of the SMARTAUTISM smartphone application for data collection in families with ASD.
• To examine correlations between ASD symptom changes and parental well-being in a real-world setting.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, longitudinal, exploratory study with a 6-month follow-up period.
• Utilizing the SMARTAUTISM smartphone application for frequent, naturalistic data recording by parents.
• Inclusion of 100 families with a child diagnosed with ASD, collecting sociodemographic, psychiatric, and medical data at baseline.

Main Results:

• Data collection over multiple weeks under natural conditions will provide insights into symptom fluctuations.
• The study will evaluate the application's filling rate and usage patterns to determine feasibility.
• Correlations between epidemiological variables and symptom evolution will be analyzed using multivariate analysis.

Conclusions:

• The SMARTAUTISM study aims to provide a more accurate, real-time understanding of ASD symptom evolution and its family impact.
• Feasibility of using smartphone applications for longitudinal ASD monitoring will be established.
• Findings will inform the development of digital health tools for supporting families affected by ASD.