SAVVy version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluating a Novel Smartphone Assisted Coping Strategy Intervention for Distressing Voices (The SAVVy Project)
IRAS ID
214640
Contact name
Mark Hayward
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Swinburne University of Technology
ISRCTN Number
ACTRN12617000348358
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 27 days
Research summary
This research is an investigation of the use of smartphone monitoring and reminders in conjunction with a coping-focused treatment for hearing voices, or auditory hallucinations.
Recent developments in e-mental health have highlighted the therapeutic potential of smartphone technology in clinical treatment of severe mental illness, including psychotic conditions. In particular, smartphones have a unique capability in that they are carried by the person throughout their daily life. For this reason, they provide a means of supporting the individual when they need it, outside the context of face-to-face therapy. This concept is at the forefront of mental health care research in light of recent developments in the use of smartphones to facilitate ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and intervention (EMI).
EMA involves the delivery of repeated surveys in the context of daily life. For this reason, it is highly suited to the study of how environmental and psychological factors interact with symptoms ‘in the moment’, and how this interplay may change over time. EMI extends this to the therapeutic domain by providing momentary intervention in the form of simple reminders or instructions at the time symptoms occur. These tools together provide an important capability that may overcome barriers to therapeutic change which are particularly evident in those with psychotic experiences.
The aim of the SAVVy project is to develop and evaluate a new intervention which unifies the unique monitoring capabilities of EMA with the momentary intervention capabilities of EMI in a coping-focused intervention for distressing voices.
The second aim is to investigate factors associated with voices as they occur ‘in the moment’, in order to further our understanding of what variables influence fluctuations in voice hearing experiences, in addition to increasing our knowledge around the nature and use of coping strategies in the daily life of voice hearers.
REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0535
Date of REC Opinion
11 May 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion