New technologies in psychological intervention and evaluation

When we talk about therapy in psychology, we usually imagine a scenario in which the professional and the patient share the same room and exchange in a spoken way experiences, feelings, concerns, knowledge... If the professional takes some notes or provides some written material to the patient.

Nevertheless, this version of therapy is quite reductionist, especially today. Today, new technologies allow us to communicate in multiple ways and share data remotely and immediately, paving the way for new forms of therapy.

The role of new technologies in psychotherapy

In 2011 the American psychologists Alan Kazdin and Stacey Blase published their article Rebooting Psychotherapy Research and Practice to Reduce the Burden of Mental Illness. In this text they defend that although the classic idea of ​​the therapist-patient dyad may be the most effective modality and most accepted by patients, It is necessary to incorporate other ways of acting in order to reach those people who do not have access to any type of treatment psychotherapeutic.

To achieve this, they talk about the potential of new technologies, relying mainly on mobile phones and the Internet. However, this is also a reductionist version in which the use of new technologies is proposed for those cases in which face-to-face therapy is not possible.

The collection of data in Psychology is essential in interventions carried out from a cognitive-behavioral approach when records or self-records are used. In these, it is necessary collect the moment (place, time... etc) of the behavior and the sensations, emotions or thoughts associated with it, as well as other relevant information (what was happening, who the person was with... etc) that allows establishing a pattern and / or baseline in order to know more objectively the behavior.

The more immediate in time and the more precise this data collection is, the better results can be obtained. That's what the term Ecological Momentary Assessment, or EMA, refers to., (Shiffman, Stone, & Hufford, 2008) and that we can translate by Momentary Ecological Evaluation (SEM).

The difficulties that are usually found when collecting this data are those of remembering and recording emotions, cognitions and / or behaviors, since by not having non-intrusive methods that allow the collection to be made, it tends to be delayed in the weather. But the current use of smartphones allows people to collect data immediately upon the occurrence of the behavior and in the natural environment of the person, and even automating some of the data such as the date, time and even the place.

Momentary Ecological Interventions

Studies carried out on the basis of electronic agendas (Palm or PDA) show that if the EMA is used, a data collection very different from the traditional pencil and paper in many areas of psychology (Shiffman et al., 2008). However, this technology had a series of limitations that, although they facilitated the collection of information ecological and momentary, they did not allow more complex functionalities such as synchronization with servers or recognition voice.

Smartphones far overcome these barriers, establishing itself as an ideal technology; not only for information gathering, but it can also be used to carry out what Runyan and colleagues (2013) have called Ecological Momentary Intervention or, translated into Spanish, Momentary Ecological Interventions (EMI).

As its name indicates, the «momentary» and «ecological» intervention is associated with the possibility of intervene with the person at the precise moment in which the behavior is taking place and in a natural or minimally invasive way, making available to people for example self-instructions or guidelines that can be consulted immediately and thus lower the levels of anxiety.

In this way, new technologies do not replace a face-to-face intervention, but rather complement it by making it more effective.

At this time, and from a perspective of work with big data, the use of the smartphone dilutes the distinction between EMA and EMI, since it opens the possibility of carrying out an online intervention through a mobile application that connects to devices and allow continuous feedback between the data collected in the evaluation phase and during the intervention. Thus, we speak of Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment / Interventions (Runyan et al., 2013).

The advantages of a registry updated in real time

Being able to have devices that collect data and have the ability to share them in real time with professionals and researchers It has been a before and after in the work carried out with EMA and EMI, allowing above all in the latter a level of customization that was impossible until now (Wangberg & Psychol, 2013).

This may be of great importance in the field of psychological assessment and intervention, and more in the field of research, being able to revolutionize the way in which theoretical models are developed.

In recent years, new technologies have emerged that, made available to professionals, allow the concepts that have been discussed throughout the article to be put into practice.

One of the most relevant examples could be PsychoReg. This new platform makes available to psychology and psychiatry professionals, among others, a management system, data collection and intervention through an APP directed to the patient.

Bibliographic references:

• Armayones-Ruiz, M., Gómez-Zúñiga, B., Hernández-Find, E., & Pousada, M. (2015) Big Data and Psychology: an opportunity for the Internet of People? Aloma, Journal of Psychology, Ciències de l’Educació i de l’Esport, 33 (2), 21-29. ISSN: 1138-3194.
• Kazdin, A. E., & Blase, S. L. (2011). Rebooting Psychotherapy Research and Practice to Reduce the Burden of Mental Illness. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6 (1), 21–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610393527.
• Shiffman, S., Stone, A. A., & Hufford, M. R. (2008). Ecological momentary assessment. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 4, 1-32 https://doi: 10.1146 / annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091415
• Runyan JD, Steenbergh TA, Bainbridge C, Daugherty DA, Oke L, Fry BN (2013) A Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment / Intervention “App” for Collecting Real-Time Data and Promoting Self-Awareness. PLoS ONE 8 (8): e71325. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071325.
• Wangberg, S. C., & Psychol, C. (2013). Personalized technology for supporting health behaviors. IEEE 4th International Conference on Cognitive Infocommunications (CogInfoCom) 339–344. doi: 10.1109 / CogInfoCom.2013.6719267.