Objective validity of ecological momentary assessment in older adults

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26882016
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Applied health science
• Research Institution: National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (2015); The University of Tokyo (2014)
• Principal Investigator: Kim Jinhyuk 国立研究開発法人国立精神・神経医療研究センター, 精神保健研究所 心身医学研究部, 流動研究員 (00735095)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-08-29 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 日常生活下調査 / 高齢者 / 身体活動度 / 自覚症状 / 抑うつ気分

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is a data collection technique capable of repeated real-time assessments of behaviors, subjective symptoms, and physiological reactions in individuals’ daily life. In this study, we investigated associations between subjective symptoms using EMA and local statistics of spontaneous physical activity as an external criteria. The results showed that reduced activity patterns associated with the worsening of depressive mood. We did not find a significant difference on the association between activity patterns and depressive mood across older adults and healthy controls (healthy undergraduates). These results indicate that the temporal variations in depressive mood measured by EMA are not merely random but may be affected by the underlying changes in physical activity. They may suggest the validity of EMA as an objective and accurate tool to evaluate physical symptoms and mood states in older adults.

Free Research Field

健康心理学