Characterizing Performance on a Suite of English-Language NeuroUX Mobile Cognitive Tests in a US Adult Sample: Ecological Momentary Cognitive Testing Study.

Background: Mobile cognitive testing is growing in popularity, with numerous advantages over traditional cognitive testing; however, the field lacks studies that deeply examine mobile cognitive test data from general adult samples.

Objective: This study characterized performance for a suite of 8 mobile cognitive tests from the NeuroUX platform in a sample of US adults across the adult lifespan.

Methods: Overall, 393 participants completed 8 NeuroUX cognitive tests and a brief ecological momentary assessment survey once per day on their smartphones for 10 consecutive days; each test was administered 5 times over the testing period.

Sexual orientation moderates the association between health care utilization-related factors and mental health service nonutilization among United States military veterans.

This study examined mental health treatment nonutilization among sexual minority versus heterosexual Veterans with demonstrated psychiatric need. Data were analyzed from 820 Veterans with psychiatric need who participated in the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, which surveyed a nationally representative sample of U.S.

Investigating Acoustic and Psycholinguistic Predictors of Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults: Modeling Study.

Background: About one-third of older adults aged 65 years and older often have mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Acoustic and psycho-linguistic features derived from conversation may be of great diagnostic value because speech involves verbal memory and cognitive and neuromuscular processes. The relative decline in these processes, however, may not be linear and remains understudied.

Prevalence of prominent and predominant negative symptoms across different criteria for negative symptom severity and minimal positive symptoms: A comparison of different criteria.

Negative symptoms are a source of disability in schizophrenia, but criteria for identifying patients for clinical trials are in flux. Minimum severity for negative symptoms is paired with a definition of minimal psychosis to identify predominant negative symptoms. Two previous successful negative symptoms treatment studies used very different severity and selection criteria.

Media Use and Its Associations With Paranoia in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder: Ecological Momentary Assessment.

Background: Paranoia is a spectrum of fear-related experiences that spans diagnostic categories and is influenced by social and cognitive factors. The extent to which social media and other types of media use are associated with paranoia remains unclear.

Objective: We aimed to examine associations between media use and paranoia at the within- and between-person levels.

Comparisons of Self-Report With Objective Measurements Suggest Faster Responding but Little Change in Response Quality Over Time in Ecological Momentary Assessment Studies.

Response times (RTs) to ecological momentary assessment (EMA) items often decrease after repeated EMA administration, but whether this is accompanied by lower response quality requires investigation. We examined the relationship between EMA item RTs and EMA response quality. In one data set, declining response quality was operationalized as decreasing correspondence over time between subjective and objective measures of blood glucose taken at the same time.

Relationships between Sleep Quality, Introspective Accuracy, and Confidence Differ among People with Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, and Bipolar Disorder with Psychotic Features.

People with schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolar disorders have difficulty accurately estimating their abilities and skills (impaired introspective accuracy [IA]) and tend to over- or underestimate their performance. This discrepancy between self-reported and objective task performance has been identified as a significant predictor of functional impairment. Yet, the factors driving this discrepancy are currently unclear.

A meta-cognitive Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: Self-assessment of sorting performance.

People with serious mental illness have challenged self-awareness, including momentary monitoring of performance. A core feature of this challenge is in the domain of using external information to guide behavior, an ability that is measured very well by certain problem-solving tasks such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) . We used a modified WCST to examine correct sorts and accuracy decisions regarding the correctness of sort.

Qualitative Analysis of the Content Validity of the Virtual Reality Functional Capacity Assessment Tool (VRFCAT) in Schizophrenia: A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective.

The US Food and Drug Agency (FDA) requires clinical trials targeting cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS) to demonstrate the functional relevance of cognitive improvements by employing a functional co-primary measure. Although quantitative evidence supports the suitability of the Virtual Reality Functional Capacity Assessment Tool (VRFCAT) for this purpose, FDA guidelines for qualification of clinical outcome assessments require evidence of content validity, defined as qualitative evidence that key stakeholders view the measure as relevant and important. To collect this important qualitative data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with outpatients with schizophrenia ( = 24), caregivers ( = 12), and professional peer support specialists ( = 12) to elicit their views about the definition and importance of functional independence, the importance of the functional domains assessed by the VRFCAT (meal planning, using transportation, handling money, shopping), and the relevance of the VRFCAT tasks to these domains.

Computerized Cognitive and Skills Training in Older People With Mild Cognitive Impairment: Using Ecological Momentary Assessment to Index Treatment-Related Changes in Real-World Performance of Technology-Dependent Functional Tasks.

Objectives: Cognitive and functional skills training improves skills and cognitive test performance, but the true test of efficacy is real-world transfer. We trained participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or normal cognition (NC) for up to 12 weeks on six technology-related skills using remote computerized functional skills assessment and training (FUNSAT) software. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), we measured real-world performance of the technology-related skills over 6 months and related EMA-identified changes in performance to training gains.

Immediate post performance judgements about cognitive performance in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: associations with test performance and subjective overall judgments regarding abilities.

Introduction: The study explored associations between the accuracy of post assessment judgements of cognitive performance with global self-assessments of psychosocial functioning compared to evaluations generated by observers in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Methods: An abbreviated cognitive assessment based on the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery was administered to 122 individuals with schizophrenia and 113 with bipolar disorder. They provided self-estimates of their performance after each subtest.

Remotely-administered resilience and self-compassion intervention targeting loneliness and stress in older adults: a single-case experimental design.

Objectives: Loneliness and chronic stress are prevalent issues for older adults that have been linked to adverse health outcomes. We conducted a remote resilience and self-compassion intervention targeting loneliness and chronic stress.

Methods: This study utilized a multiple-phase-change single-case experimental design with three consecutive 6-week phases: control, intervention, follow-up.

The Tripartite Model of Depression in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder: A Secondary Analysis.

Models of affect, like the tripartite model, suggest that positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) are independent between subjects and negatively correlated within. Correlations may differ in bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and clinical ratings, this secondary analysis evaluated the tripartite model by examining PA and NA.

Mild Cognitive Impairment, But Not HIV Status, is Related to Reduced Awareness of Level of Cognitive Performance Among Older Adults.

Objective: Self-assessment of cognitive abilities can be an important predictor of clinical outcomes. This study examined impairments in self-assessments of cognitive performance, assessed with traditional neuropsychological assessments and novel virtual reality tests among older persons with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Methods: One hundred twenty-two participants (82 persons with HIV; 79 MCI+) completed a traditional neuropsychological battery, DETECT virtual reality cognitive battery, and self-reported their general cognitive complaints, depressive symptoms, and perceptions of DETECT performance.

A disproportionate burden: Prevalence of trauma and mental health difficulties among sexual minority versus heterosexual U.S. military veterans.

This study examined sociodemographic, military, and trauma characteristics, and mental health concerns that differ by sexual orientation in a nationally representative sample of U.S. military veterans.