New Technologies In Psychological Intervention And Evaluation
When we talk about therapy in psychology, we usually imagine a scenario in which professional and patient share the same room and verbally exchange experiences, feelings, concerns, knowledge… If anything, the professional takes some notes or provides some written material to the patient.
However, 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, opening the way to new forms of therapy.
In 2011, 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 to be able to reach those people who do not have access to any type of psychotherapeutic treatment.
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.
Data collection 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 the behavior more objectively.
The more immediate and precise the 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 as Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA).
The difficulties that are usually encountered when collecting this data are those of remembering and recording emotions, cognitions and/or behaviors, since by not having low-intrusive methods that allow the collection to be carried out, this usually takes time. But the current use of smartphones allows people to collect data immediately upon the occurrence of the behavior and in the person’s natural environment, and even automating some of the data such as date, time and even place.
Momentary Ecological Interventions
Studies carried out on the basis of electronic agendas (Palm or PDA) show that if the EMA is used, data collection is favored that is very different from the traditional paper and pencil method in many areas of Psychology (Shiffman et al., 2008). However, this technology had a series of limitations that, although they facilitated the collection of ecological and momentary information, did not allow more complex functionalities such as synchronization with servers or voice recognition.
Smartphones far overcome these barriers , establishing itself as an ideal technology; not only for the collection of information, but it can also be used to carry out what Runyan and colleagues (2013) have called Ecological Momentary Intervention or, translated into Spanish, Ecological Momentary 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 occurring and in a natural or minimally invasive way, making available to people, for example, self-instructions or guidelines that they can consult immediately and thus reduce anxiety levels.
In this way, new technologies do not replace a face-to-face intervention, but rather complement it, making it more effective.
At this time, and from the perspective of working with big data, the use of the smartphone dilutes the distinction between the EMA and the EMI, since it opens up 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 They have the ability to share them in real time with professionals and researchers It has meant a before and after in the work carried out with EMA and EMI, allowing especially in the latter a level of customization that was hitherto impossible (Wangberg & Psychol, 2013).
This can be of great importance in the field of psychological evaluation 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, when made available to professionals, allow them to put into practice the concepts that have been discussed throughout the article.
One of the most relevant examples could be PsicoReg. This innovative platform makes available to psychology and psychiatry professionals, among others, a management, data collection and intervention system through an APP directed to the patient.
