Applications of the experience sampling method (ESM) in paediatric healthcare:a systematic review

Background: With the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) participants are asked to provide self-reports of their symptoms, feelings, thoughts and behaviours in daily life. This preregistered systematic review assessed how ESM is being used to monitor emotional well-being, somatic health, fatigue and pain in children and adolescents with a chronic somatic illness.Methods: Databases were searched from inception. Studies were selected if they included children or adolescents aged 0–25 years with a chronic somatic illness and used ESM focussing on mental health or psychosocial wellbeing, biopsychosocial factors and/or somatic health. Two reviewers extracted data of the final 47 papers, describing 48 studies.Results: Most studies evaluated what factors influence medical or psychological symptoms and how symptoms influence each other. Another common purpose was to study the feasibility of ESM or ESM as part of an app or intervention. Study methods were heterogeneous and most studies lack adequate reporting of ESM applications and results.Conclusions: While ESM holds great potential for providing results and feedback to patients and caregivers, little use is being made of this option. Future studies should consider what they report in their studies, conduct a priori power analyses and how ESM can be embedded in clinical practice. Impact: While ESM has many clinical applications, it is currently mostly used for research purposes.Current studies using ESM are heterogeneous and lack consistent, high-quality reporting.There is great potential in ESM for providing patients and parents with personalised feedback.</p

Applications of the experience sampling method (ESM) in paediatric healthcare: a systematic review

Background: With the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) participants are asked to provide self-reports of their symptoms, feelings, thoughts and behaviours in daily life. This preregistered systematic review assessed how ESM is being used to monitor emotional well-being, somatic health, fatigue and pain in children and adolescents with a chronic somatic illness. Methods: Databases were searched from inception. Studies were selected if they included children or adolescents aged 0–25 years with a chronic somatic illness and used ESM focussing on mental health or psychosocial wellbeing, biopsychosocial factors and/or somatic health. Two reviewers extracted data of the final 47 papers, describing 48 studies. Results: Most studies evaluated what factors influence medical or psychological symptoms and how symptoms influence each other. Another common purpose was to study the feasibility of ESM or ESM as part of an app or intervention. Study methods were heterogeneous and most studies lack adequate reporting of ESM applications and results. Conclusions: While ESM holds great potential for providing results and feedback to patients and caregivers, little use is being made of this option. Future studies should consider what they report in their studies, conduct a priori power analyses and how ESM can be embedded in clinical practice. Impact: While ESM has many clinical applications, it is currently mostly used for research purposes.Current studies using ESM are heterogeneous and lack consistent, high-quality reporting.There is great potential in ESM for providing patients and parents with personalised feedback

Challenges in body composition assessment using air-displacement plethysmography by BOD POD in pediatric and young adult patients

Background &amp; aims: Air-Displacement-Plethysmography (ADP) by BOD POD is widely used for body fat assessment in children. Although validated in healthy subjects, studies about use in pediatric patients are lacking. We evaluated user experience and usability of ADP measurements with the BOD POD system in healthy children and pediatric and young adult patients. Methods: Using the experiences of seven cohort studies, which included healthy children and patients aged 2–22 years, we retrospectively evaluated the user experience with the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) (n = 13) and interviews (n = 7). Technical performance was studied using the quality control data collected by the ADP-system. Results: From 2016 to 2022, 1606 measurements were scheduled. BOD POD was mostly rated ‘user-friendly’, with a generally neutral evaluation on all scales of the UEQ. However, questionable reliability and validity of the results were frequently (86%) reported. We found a high technical failure-rate of the device, predominantly in stability (17%) and accuracy of the measurement (12%), especially in the ‘pediatric option’ for children aged &lt;6 years. Measurement failure-rate was 38%, mostly due to subject's fear or device failure, especially in young and lean children, and in children with physical and/or intellectual disabilities. Conclusion: We conclude that ADP by BOD POD in children and young adults is non-invasive and user-friendly. However, in specific pediatric populations, BOD POD has several limitations and high (technical) failure-rates, especially in young children with aberrant body composition. We recommend caution when interpreting body composition results of pediatric patients as assessed with BOD POD using the current default settings.</p

Applications of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) in paediatric healthcare

This project contains the working files related to the paper "Applications of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) in paediatric healthcare: A systematic review", published in Pediatric Research: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41390-023-02918-

Can neuroimaging measures differentiate the disease course of anorexia nervosa? A systematic review

Anorexia nervosa (AN) entails many uncertainties regarding the clinical outcome, due to large heterogeneity in the disease course. AN is associated with global decrease in brain volumes and altered brain functioning during acute illness. However, it is unclear whether structural and functional brain alterations can predict clinical outcome. We aimed to systematically review the predictive value of volumetric and functional brain outcome measures of structural and functional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the disease course of AN. Four databases (Embase, Medline, Psycinfo, and Cochrane Central Register) were systematically searched. A total of 15 studies (structural MRI: n = 6, functional MRI: n = 9) were reviewed. In total 464 unique AN patients, and 328 controls were included. Follow-up time ranged between 1 and 43 months. Structural neuroimaging studies showed that lower brain volumes of the cerebellum, subcortical grey matter, and cortical white matter at admission predicted a worse clinical outcome. A smaller increase of the anterior cingulate cortex volume in the early phase of the disease predicted a worse clinical outcome. Lower overall gyrification, and a higher clustering coefficient predicted a worse clinical outcome. Functional MRI studies showed that frontal, parietal and temporal activity during task-based algorithms predicted follow-up body mass index, although results were bidirectional possibly due to the large heterogeneity in methodological approaches. Neuroimaging measures may predict the clinical outcome of AN. However, there is a lack of replication studies. Future studies are needed to validate the prognostic utility of neuroimaging measures in AN patients, and should harmonize demographic, clinical and neuroimaging features in order to enhance comparability

The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on eating disorder features and comorbid psychopathology among adolescents with anorexia nervosa and matched controls: a comparative cohort design study

Abstract Purpose To examine implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on eating disorder (ED) features and psychopathology in female adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN). Method In total 79 females with first-onset AN (aged 12–22 years) were included and were followed up across a period of 1 year. We assessed AN participants recruited pre-pandemic (n = 49) to those recruited peri-pandemic (n = 30). Pre- (n = 37) and peri-pandemic (n = 38) age-, and education-matched typically developing (TD) girls (n = 75) were used as a reference cohort. ED features and psychopathology were assessed at baseline. After 1 year of follow-up the association between pandemic timing and clinical course was assessed. Analyses of covariance were used to examine differences in ED features and psychopathology. Results Peri-pandemic AN participants experienced less ED symptoms at baseline compared to pre-pandemic AN participants. In particular, they were less dissatisfied with their body shape, and experienced less interpersonal insecurity. In addition, the peri-pandemic AN group met fewer DSM-IV criteria for comorbid disorders, especially anxiety disorders. In contrast, peri-pandemic AN participants had a smaller BMI increase over time. In TD girls, there were no differences at baseline in ED features and psychopathology between the pre- and peri-pandemic group. Conclusion Overall, peri-pandemic AN participants were less severely ill, compared to pre-pandemic AN participants, which may be explained by less social pressure and peer contact, and a more protective parenting style during the pandemic. Conversely, peri-pandemic AN participants had a less favorable clinical course, which may be explained by reduced access to health care facilities during the pandemic. Level of evidence Level III: Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case–control analytic studies