Validation of a Low-Burden, Once-Daily Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Measure Over 70 Days: Ecological Momentary...

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Digital Health

Background:

• Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs) are increasingly used for real-time symptom tracking in mental health, including Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
• Previous EMA studies for OCD faced limitations such as short assessment durations, high participant burden, and varied methodologies.
• There is a need for validated, low-burden EMA tools for extended OCD symptom monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate a 12-item EMA questionnaire designed to assess OCD symptoms.
• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the EMA questionnaire over an extended monitoring period.
• To assess the feasibility and efficacy of smartphone-delivered EMA for OCD symptom assessment.

Main Methods:

• Adults with OCD and healthy controls completed daily smartphone-delivered EMA surveys for up to 70 days.
• The EMA surveys assessed the frequency and emotional impact of obsessions and compulsions.
• Participants with OCD also underwent clinician-administered Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) evaluations at baseline, week 2, and week 10.

Main Results:

• The 12-item EMA scale demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.96).
• Significant convergent validity was found, with strong correlations between EMA scores and Y-BOCS scores at weeks 2 and 10.
• High participant retention (89.1%) and questionnaire completion rates (89%) exceeded previous literature benchmarks.

Conclusions:

• The study provides initial psychometric support for a low-burden EMA tool for capturing daily OCD symptom fluctuations.
• This EMA tool can enhance longitudinal symptom monitoring and treatment response tracking in OCD.
• The findings address limitations of traditional retrospective assessments by enabling real-time data collection.