Effects on voice hearing distress and social functioning of unguided application of a smartphone app — A randomized controlled trial

Effects on voice hearing distress and social functioning of unguided application of a smartphone app — A randomized controlled trial

Jongeneel, Alyssa (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Parnassia Psychiatric Institute)
Delespaul, Philippe (Universiteit Maastricht; Mondriaan Mental Health Centre, Heerlen)
Tromp, N. (TU Delft Design Aesthetics)
Scheffers, Dorien (Parnassia Psychiatric Institute)
van der Vleugel, Berber (GGZ Noord-Holland Noord, Alkmaar; Viersprong Institute for Personality Disorders, Amsterdam)
de Bont, Paul (Land van Cuijck en Noord Limburg)
Kikkert, Martijn (Arkin BasisGGZ)
Croes, Carlos F. (GGz Centraal)
van den Berg, David (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Parnassia Psychiatric Institute)

2024

Background: Temstem is a smartphone app developed with and for clinical voice hearing individuals with the aim to reduce their voice hearing distress and improve social functioning. Methods: A randomized controlled trial with adult outpatients suffering from distressing and frequent auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) was conducted. Participants were randomized to unguided ‘Temstem+AVH monitoring’ or unguided ‘AVH monitoring only’ (control condition). Assessments were performed at baseline, post-intervention (week 5–6), and follow-up (week 9–10). Primary outcomes were voice hearing distress and social functioning, as measured with Experience Sampling Method (ESM), consisting of multiple daily questionnaires during six days. In addition, voices and mood were self-monitored with help of a daily reflective questionnaire. Analyses were linear regression models (intention-to-treat). Results: 44 Participants were allocated to Temstem and 45 to the control condition. No significant differences between the groups were found on both primary outcomes. Conclusion: Our results do not support the effectiveness of stand-alone use of Temstem versus symptom monitoring on voice hearing distress or social functioning in voice hearing individuals. In order to potentially improve effectiveness of an mHealth tool in a population of people with frequent and distressing voices, we recommend to involve persons with lived experience in all stages of development and research; to thoroughly test the (technological) usability before performing an RCT; to test whether guidance of a therapist is needed to optimize effectiveness; and to provide prompts to remind the user to actually use the tool.

Auditory verbal hallucinations
ESM
Mhealth
Psychosis
Voice hearing
Voices

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:3aca29e3-be8a-445d-beb7-a978d5a2d4d6

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2024.100717

2214-7829

Internet Interventions, 35

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2024 Alyssa Jongeneel, Philippe Delespaul, N. Tromp, Dorien Scheffers, Berber van der Vleugel, Paul de Bont, Martijn Kikkert, Carlos F. Croes, David van den Berg, More Authors