ABSTRACT:
Assessments of events occurring on a daily basis are challenging in terms of their validity given that they are far removed from other assessments of interest conducted at in-person research office visits. These challenges are compounded when the populations of interest maybe impaired in aspects of their cognitive functioning. Ecological momentary assessment is a strategy that can be employed to sample daily events as they occur and avoid recall bias. Ecological momentary assessment evaluations can combine patients’ answers to questions sent to a remote device with passive measurements obtained by commonly available wearable devices with global positioning system technology. Our research task was to measure daytime sleepiness induced by medication side effects over a 4-week period in people with Parkinson’s disease complicated by psychosis. Our solution was to use ecological momentary assessment sampling of questions 3 times per day for 3 days per week in combination with data obtained from a Fitbit wearable device. Informants also were sampled using the same strategy and time frame but without the use of a wearable device. Outcomes examined include sleep quality, current sleepiness, and perceived cognitive functioning and impairments as assessed by the ecological momentary assessment procedures in a randomized placebo controlled study of two different antipsychotic medications.
PUBLICATION:
SAGE Research Methods Cases: Medicine and Health
2020
LINK TO PUBLICATION:
Challenges in Assessment of Daytime Sleepiness in Cognitively Impaired Populations Can Be Bypassed Through Use of Ecological Momentary Assessment