A Wearable Acoustic Sensing-Based mHealth System for Monitoring Social Dysfunction in Schizophrenia
For the past several decades, public health experts have called attention to an “epidemic” of loneliness (perceived isolation) and social isolation (objectively few social contacts or interactions) in the general population that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent data have also shown that loneliness and isolation are particularly common in those suffering from a psychotic disorder, affecting ~80% of people with these conditions. Previous research has linked loneliness and isolation in the general population to poor cardiometabolic health and premature mortality, yet little is known about the psychological and neurobiological underpinnings of these associations and how they vary in different populations.
PROJECT STATUS
This project is currently recruiting participants.
AIMS
In the current study, we employ a functional neuroimaging paradigm and analytic approach to investigate loneliness and social isolation, with the goal of identifying biases in neural responses associated with loneliness and isolation in people with and without psychotic disorders.
This study has three primary aims:
1) Identify neurobehavioral correlates of social isolation and loneliness in participants with and without serious mental illness (SMI).
2) Characterize within-person, dynamic changes in objective isolation and loneliness, and associations with neural markers of isolation and loneliness, using mobile technology.
3) Identify associations between neural markers and momentary dynamics of isolation and loneliness with psychosocial functioning and cardiometabolic health over time.
Image: The mHealth wearable acoustic device used to monitor isolation and social interaction.
METHODS
This study is being conducted in collaboration with colleagues at Boston University. All participants will initially complete 2 baseline visits on separate days during which interviews, surveys, an MRI scan, a health assessment, and social/cognitive tasks will be completed. This will be followed by a 2 week period of mobile data collection, and a subsequent in-person visit to collect VR-based personal space and perceptual measures. After 5 months, participants will be invited back for two follow-up in-person visits to collect much of the same measures which were previously collected, along with another 2 week period of mobile data collection.
The goal enrollment of this project is 120 participants, of whom 84 have been enrolled. Participant recruitment will be continued into 2025.
COE PROJECT STAFF
Daphne Holt, MD, PhD
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Additional Collaborators
Co-Principal Investigator: Daniel Fulford, PhD
Funding
Funding for this project was provided by National Institutes of Health (NIH).