Abstract
Background
Youth at clinical high-risk (CHR) for developing psychosis are characterized by long-standing social deficits and isolation compared to healthy youth. Because poor social functioning is predictive of transition to psychosis, it is important to monitor its fluctuations. Objectives: 1) To test initial usability of an app (SOMO); and 2) to confirm that SOMO is acceptable, feasible, and safe to monitor daily social functioning among youth at clinical high-risk (CHR) for developing psychosis.
Methods
Participants: 24 CHR participants (12–30 years old) used SOMO for 2 months to test its initial feasibility to monitor social functioning. Measures: 1) SOMO comprises 13 daily questions regarding social interactions in-person or online covering: type of relationship, time spent together, quality of the interaction, activities done, conflict and resolution, meaningfulness of the interaction, subjective opinion of the socialization, and level of loneliness. 2) Social functioning was assessed with the Social Functioning Scale (GF:S), which assesses peer relationships, peer conflict, age-appropriate intimate relationships, and involvement with family members. 3) Qualitative data of the SOMO was gathered through the 23-item Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) covering questions about engagement, functionality, aesthetics, information provided, and subjective quality of SOMO. Analyses. a) Descriptive information of 1) usability data (i.e., loggings, social relationships, ad meaningfulness) and 2) the app quality ratings (i.e., engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and information) was collected.
Results
There were 750 loggings over the 2-month testing period, with 50% of participants logging in at least every other day. Participants had 690 in-person interactions and 497 online interactions. The most meaningful interactions were considered the ones with their partner, followed by interactions with friends, casual friends, family, others and strangers in-person respectively. Participants reported conflict in 18.2% of their interactions. SOMO obtained a high overall score on the MARS (M=4.38). Ratings for engagement (M=3.91), functionality (M=4.54), aesthetics (M=4.56), information (M=4.51), subjective score (M=3.89), and perceived impact in behavior (M=3.52) were higher than other relevant mHealth apps. All participants rated SOMO as safe. Social functioning did not change significantly after using SOMO.
Discussion
SOMO demonstrated initial acceptability, feasibility, and safety among CHR participants.
Modeling the role of negative symptoms in determining social functioning in individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis
