Collaborative Development of a Self-Tracking Assisted Psychotherapy Treatment Concept for Refugees With Complex...

Area of Science:

• Mental Health
• Psychotherapy Research
• Digital Health

Background:

• Refugees face significant mental health risks, including complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), often inadequately addressed by traditional therapies.
• Cultural factors and low adherence challenge existing treatments for refugee CPTSD.
• Wearable self-tracking technology presents an opportunity for personalized mental health support, yet its integration into psychotherapy is under-researched.

Purpose of the Study:

• To collaboratively develop a novel psychotherapeutic treatment concept for refugees with CPTSD.
• To integrate a personalized, wearable self-tracking instrument, the One Button Tracker (OBT), into psychotherapy.
• To enhance the connection between therapy sessions and patients' daily lives through real-time experience tracking.

Main Methods:

• A Participatory Action Research approach was employed at a Danish trauma clinic from November 2022 to April 2024.
• The co-development process involved 21 participants: therapists, patients, and researchers in clinical psychology and human-computer interaction.
• Data collection included patient interviews, therapist logs, peer supervision, and OBT self-tracking data.

Main Results:

• The One Button Tracker (OBT) enhanced patient engagement by facilitating symptom monitoring and reinforcing therapeutic interventions.
• Therapists utilized self-tracking data for personalized, context-sensitive interventions, gaining insights into patients' experiences.
• The OBT improved communication, collaboration, and the therapeutic alliance, despite minor technical limitations.

Conclusions:

• This study pioneered the use of Participatory Action Research to integrate self-tracking technology into CPTSD treatment for refugees.
• The developed treatment concept, utilizing the OBT, shows potential for improving patient engagement, adherence, and the therapeutic alliance.
• The flexible, personalized approach holds promise as a transtheoretical and transdiagnostic model for psychotherapy.