An app for understanding schizophrenia

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Gathering accurate information on the social lives of people with schizophrenia has long been a challenge for researchers. They have tried to go beyond typical self-reporting methods by asking people to answer questions in the context of their daily lives using personal digital assistants or mobile phones, a method known as ecological momentary assessment. But many people—not just those with schizophrenia—have difficulty providing an accurate picture of their activities that way.

Dan Fulford, an assistant professor of occupational therapy, and colleagues from San Francisco State University and the University of Saskatchewan are developing a cell phone app that collects social data in real time and takes the onus of reporting off the participants. They hope it will help clinicians better understand the illness and soon allow for real-time intervention.

https://www.bu.edu/sargent/about-us/our-publications/inside-sargent-2016/schizophrenia-unlocked/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=TWITTER&utm_campaign=prbuexperts

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the social lives of people with schizophrenia

Interesting topic.

The researchers expected that up to half of the patients would say they were not interested because they didn’t want to use a cell phone app that monitors their every move, since people with schizophrenia often experience symptoms such as paranoia and hearing voices. But the researchers have found the opposite to be true. Of the 16 people with schizophrenia asked to be part of the study, only one declined, Gard says.

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I was wondering whether it just picked up on noise that indicated conversational activity ,or the actual content of conversations.
If the latter some/many might find it overly intrusive.

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Yikes! This raises significant privacy concerns in my opinion.

“the app employs a phone’s GPS and accelerometer to monitor a person’s movements and activity level. It uses the device’s microphone to record samples of ambient noise, including the participant’s conversations.”

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