Affectionate touch and diurnal oxytocin levels: An ecological momentary assessment study.

Background: Affectionate touch, which is vital for mental and physical health, was restricted during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study investigated the association between momentary affectionate touch and subjective well-being, as well as salivary oxytocin and cortisol in everyday life during the pandemic. Methods: In the first step, we measured anxiety and depression symptoms, loneliness and attitudes toward social touch in a large cross-sectional online survey (N = 1050). From this sample, N = 247 participants completed ecological momentary assessments over 2 days with six daily assessments by answering smartphone-based questions on affectionate touch and momentary mental state, and providing concomitant saliva samples for cortisol and oxytocin assessment. Results: Multilevel models showed that on a within-person level, affectionate touch was associated with decreased self-reported anxiety, general burden, stress, and increased oxytocin levels. On a between-person level, affectionate touch was associated with decreased cortisol levels and higher happiness. Moreover, individuals with a positive attitude toward social touch experiencing loneliness reported more mental health problems. Conclusions: Our results suggest that affectionate touch is linked to higher endogenous oxytocin in times of pandemic and lockdown and might buffer stress on a subjective and hormonal level. These findings might have implications for preventing mental burden during social contact restrictions. Funding: The study was funded by the German Research Foundation, the German Psychological Society, and German Academic Exchange Service.

Trajectories of Parental Daily Stress: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study during the COVID-19 Lockdown.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a source of significant stress due to health and safety concerns and measures to control the virus' spread, such as mobility restrictions. This measure was especially demanding for parents with school aged children, who had to find new work-family balance as their children participate in online education while attempting to work remotely. To evaluate parents' stress trajectories during the pandemic, we conducted Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs) during lockdown for 29 days in 68 families in Santiago, Chile. In addition, we evaluated the role of educational level and income, co-parenting, and number of children in parents' stress trajectories. Our results showed that during the first weeks of lockdown expected protective factors (i.e., income and co-parental support) were not able to influence parents' daily stress management. Moreover, parents with higher educational levels reported worse stress adaptation than less educated parents. On the other hand, co-parental conflict was significantly associated with parent's stress. Our study captured an acute response to COVID-19 related challenges. This study contributes to understanding how parents adjust to stress during adverse circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sleep and day-to-day PTSD symptom variability: an ecological momentary assessment and actigraphy monitored study in trauma-exposed young adults.

BACKGROUND: Disrupted sleep and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are bi-directionally linked and have been found to mutually reinforce each other on a day-to-day basis. However, most of the previous research has focused on subjective measures of sleep only. OBJECTIVE: Here, we investigated the temporal relationship between sleep and PTSD symptoms using both subjective (sleep diary) and objective measures of sleep (actigraphy). METHODS: Forty-one non-treatment seeking, trauma exposed young adults (age M = 24.68, SD = 8.15) with a range of PTSD symptom severities (PTSS, 0-53 on PCL-5) were recruited. Participants completed two surveys per day over four weeks to measure day-time PTSD symptoms (i.e. PTSS and number of intrusions) and night-time sleep subjectively, while wearing an actigraphy watch to measure sleep objectively. RESULTS: Linear mixed models revealed that subjectively reported sleep disruptions were associated with elevated next-day PTSS and increasing number of intrusive memories both within and between participants. Similar results were found for daytime PTSD symptoms on night-time sleep. However, these associations were not found using objective sleep data. Exploratory moderator analyses including sex (male vs. female) found that these associations differed in strength between sexes but were generally in the same direction. DISCUSSION: These results were in line with our hypothesis with regards to the sleep diary (subjective sleep), but not actigraphy (objective sleep). Several factors which have implications on both PTSD and sleep, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and/ or sleep-state misperception, may be potential reasons behind those discrepancies. However, this study had limited power and needs to be replicated in larger samples. Nonetheless, these results add to the current literature about the bi-directional relationship between sleep and PTSD and have clinical implications for treatment strategies.

Elevated day-time PTSD symptom severity (PTSS) and more frequent intrusive memories were generally associated with subjectively reported disruptions in sleep and vice versa, but not with objective measures of sleep.While longer subjective sleep duration predicted reductions in PTSS and shorter sleep onset latency predicted reduced numbers of intrusions the next day, reduced daytime PTSS was only associated with reductions in distress associated with nightmares during the following night.Exploratory analyses showed that sex (men vs. women) moderated the bi-directional relationships between night-time sleep and day-time PTSD symptoms with longer sleep onset latency and lower sleep efficiency being related to worse PTSD symptoms the next day in women, but was not associated with men.

Comparing associations between mood and breath alcohol concentration in the laboratory and natural environment.

OBJECTIVE: Associations between mood and drinking are part of many theoretical models of problematic alcohol use. Laboratory and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) research on associations between mood and drinking behavior has produced mixed findings, and these constructs are often measured using different methods depending on research context. The present study compares associations between mood and alcohol consumption across research contexts (laboratory vs. daily life) and measurement methods (breathalyzer vs. self-report). METHOD: Forty-five young adults (53% women, Mage = 24.5) who drank moderate-to-heavy amounts completed an alcohol administration session and then 6 weeks of EMA with ambulatory breathalyzer samples. Participants reported their current mood (happy, nervous, upset, and excited) in both the laboratory and during EMA. Momentary, day, and person-level mood variables were examined in multilevel models predicting objective alcohol consumption [breath alcohol concentration (BrAC); lab and EMA] and subjective consumption (self-reported drinking occurrence and number of drinks; EMA). RESULTS: We identified discrepant mood-BrAC associations across laboratory and EMA contexts. Momentary excitement was negatively associated with BrAC in the lab, but positively associated with BrAC during EMA (ps < .01). We also identified discrepancies within EMA depending on the alcohol consumption measure used (BrAC or self-reported number of drinks) and the level of analysis (momentary or day). CONCLUSIONS: Studies testing theoretical models involving directional mood-alcohol associations (e.g., affective reinforcement models) need to carefully consider how research context and methods may influence findings of associations between mood and drinking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: Combining a web survey with experience sampling methodology.

COVID-19-related regulations have impacted the economy and people's well-being, highlighting the long-standing problem of inequality. This research explored how COVID-19-related restrictive policies, such as a lockdown or social distancing, affected people's well-being. In Study 1, a cross-sectional online survey (N = 685), we examined the associations between socio-economic characteristics, the number of resources, their relative change, people's stress levels, and their support of restrictive policies. We found that financial loss due to COVID-19, the number of children at home, and the intensity of restrictive measures were associated with higher stress by restrictive measures. The lower support for restrictive measures was observed among those who experienced financial loss due to COVID-19, had more children at home, less frequently accessed COVID-19-related information in the media, and did not perform self-isolation. Men were generally less supportive of restrictions than women, and the number of new COVID-19 cases was negatively related to the support. Lower stress and higher support for restrictive measures were positively associated with life satisfaction. In Study 2, an experience-sampling survey (Nparticipants = 46, Nresponses = 1112), the participants rated their well-being and level of available resources daily for one month. We observed that daily increases in well-being, characterized by higher life satisfaction and lower levels of stress and boredom, were positively associated with more social communication and being outdoors. In summary, the findings support the resource and demand framework, which states that people with access to resources can better cope with the demands of restrictive policies. Implications for policies and interventions to improve well-being are discussed.

The association between day-to-day stress experiences, recovery, and work engagement among office workers in academia-An Ecological Momentary Assessment study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the associations between day-to-day work-related stress exposures (i.e., job demands and lack of job control), job strain, and next-day work engagement among office workers in academic settings. Additionally, we assessed the influence of psychological detachment and relaxation on next-day work engagement and tested for interaction effects of these recovery variables on the relationship between work-related stressors and next-day work engagement. METHODS: Office workers from two academic settings in Belgium and Slovenia were recruited. This study is based on an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) with a 15-working day data collection period using our self-developed STRAW smartphone application. Participants were asked repeatedly about their work-related stressors, work engagement, and recovery experiences. Fixed-effect model testing using random intercepts was applied to investigate within- and between-participant levels. RESULTS: Our sample consisted of 55 participants and 2710 item measurements were analysed. A significant positive association was found between job control and next-day work engagement (ß = 0.28, p < 0.001). Further, a significant negative association was found between job strain and next-day work engagement (ß = -0.32, p = 0.05). Furthermore, relaxation was negatively associated with work engagement (ß = -0.08, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed previous results, such as higher job control being associated with higher work engagement and higher job strain predicting lower work engagement. An interesting result was the association of higher relaxation after the working day with a lower next-day work engagement. Further research investigating fluctuations in work-related stressors, work engagement, and recovery experiences is required.

Dynamic modeling of experience sampling methodology data reveals large heterogeneity in biopsychosocial factors associated with persistent fatigue in young people living with a chronic condition.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate associations between self-reported biopsychosocial factors and persistent fatigue with dynamic single-case networks. METHODS: 31 persistently fatigued adolescents and young adults with various chronic conditions (aged 12 to 29 years) completed 28 days of Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) with five prompts per day. ESM surveys consisted of eight generic and up to seven personalized biopsychosocial factors. Residual Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling (RDSEM) was used to analyze the data and derive dynamic single-case networks, controlling for circadian cycle effects, weekend effects, and low-frequency trends. Networks included contemporaneous and cross-lagged associations between biopsychosocial factors and fatigue. Network associations were selected for evaluation if both significant (α < 0.025) and relevant (ß ≥ 0.20). RESULTS: Participants chose 42 different biopsychosocial factors as personalized ESM items. In total, 154 fatigue associations with biopsychosocial factors were found. Most associations were contemporaneous (67.5%). Between chronic condition groups, no significant differences were observed in the associations. There were large inter-individual differences in which biopsychosocial factors were associated with fatigue. Contemporaneous and cross-lagged associations with fatigue varied widely in direction and strength. CONCLUSIONS: The heterogeneity found in biopsychosocial factors associated with fatigue underlines that persistent fatigue stems from a complex interplay between biopsychosocial factors. The present findings support the need for personalized treatment of persistent fatigue. Discussing the dynamic networks with the participant can be a promising step towards tailored treatment. TRIAL REGISTRATION: No. NL8789 (http://www.trialregister.nl).

Entropy as a Measure of Auditory Environment Diversity: An Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) Approach.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the validity and usefulness of entropy computed using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data as a measure of auditory environment diversity. DESIGN: We conducted two secondary analyses on existing EMA datasets. The first determined the construct validity of auditory environment entropy by examining the effect of COVID-19 on entropy. To demonstrate entropy's usefulness, the second examined if entropy could predict the benefit of hearing aid (HA) noise reduction features. RESULTS: Consistent with the known effect of COVID-19 on social lifestyle, COVID-19 significantly reduced auditory environment diversity, supporting entropy's construct validity. HA users with higher entropy reported poorer outcomes and perceived more benefit from HA features, supporting the feasibility of using entropy to predict communication performance and feature benefit. CONCLUSIONS: Entropy derived from EMA data is a valid and useful auditory environment diversity measure. This measure could allow researchers to better understand the communication needs of people with hearing loss.

An Intensive Longitudinal Assessment Approach to Surveilling Trajectories of Burnout over the First Year of the COVID Pandemic.

Frontline clinicians responding to the COVID-19 pandemic are at increased risk of burnout, but less is known about the trajectory of clinician burnout as caseloads increase and decrease. Personal and professional resources, including self-efficacy and hospital support, can attenuate the risk of burnout. Yet, empirical data documenting how burnout and resources changed as the pandemic waxed and waned are limited. This intensive longitudinal prospective study employed ecological momentary assessment methods to examine trajectories of burnout and resources over the pandemic's first year in a New York City hospital. A 10-item survey was emailed every 5 days to frontline clinicians (physicians, nurses, and physician assistants). The primary outcome was a single-item validated measure of burnout; predictors included daily hospital COVID-19-related caseloads and personal and professional resources. Clinicians (n = 398) completed the initial survey and an average of 12 surveys over the year. Initially, 45.3% of staff reported burnout; over the year, 58.7% reported burnout. Following the initial COVID peak, caseloads declined, and burnout levels declined. During the second wave of COVID, as caseloads increased and remained elevated and personal and professional resource levels decreased, burnout increased. This novel application of intensive longitudinal assessment enabled ongoing surveillance of burnout and permitted us to evaluate how fluctuations in caseload intensity and personal and professional resources related to burnout over time. The surveillance data support the need for intensified resource allocation during prolonged pandemics.

Investigating mental defeat in individuals with chronic pain: Protocol for a longitudinal experience sampling study.

INTRODUCTION: Previous qualitative and cross-sectional research has identified a strong sense of mental defeat in people with chronic pain who also experience the greatest levels of distress and disability. This study will adopt a longitudinal experience sampling design to examine the within-person link between the sense of mental defeat and distress and disability associated with chronic pain. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We aim to recruit 198 participants (aged 18-65 years) with chronic pain, to complete two waves of experience sampling over 1 week, 6 months apart (time 1 and time 2). During each wave of experience sampling, the participants are asked to complete three short online surveys per day, to provide in-the-moment ratings of mental defeat, pain, medication usage, physical and social activity, stress, mood, self-compassion, and attention using visual analogue scales. Sleep and physical activity will be measured using a daily diary as well as with wrist actigraphy worn continuously by participants throughout each wave. Linear mixed models and Gaussian graphical models will be fit to the data to: (1) examine the within-person, day-to-day association of mental defeat with outcomes (ie, pain, physical/social activity, medication use and sleep), (2) examine the dynamic temporal and contemporaneous networks of mental defeat with all outcomes and the hypothesised mechanisms of outcomes (ie, perceived stress, mood, attention and self-compassion). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The current protocol has been approved by the Health Research Authority and West Midlands-Solihull Research Ethics Committee (Reference Number: 17/WM0053). The study is being conducted in adherence with the Declaration of Helsinki, Warwick Standard Operating Procedures and applicable UK legislation.

Initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic on real-life well-being, social contact and roaming behavior in patients with schizophrenia, major depression and healthy controls: A longitudinal ecological momentary assessment study.

The COVID-19 pandemic strongly impacted people's daily lives. However, it remains unknown how the pandemic situation affects daily-life experiences of individuals with preexisting severe mental illnesses (SMI). In this real-life longitudinal study, the acute onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany did not cause the already low everyday well-being of patients with schizophrenia (SZ) or major depression (MDD) to decrease further. On the contrary, healthy participants' well-being, anxiety, social isolation, and mobility worsened, especially in healthy individuals at risk for mental disorder, but remained above the levels seen in patients. Despite being stressful for healthy individuals at risk for mental disorder, the COVID-19 pandemic had little additional influence on daily-life well-being in psychiatric patients with SMI. This highlights the need for preventive action and targeted support of this vulnerable population.

Smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Intervention for secondary prevention of suicidal thoughts and behaviour: protocol for the SmartCrisis V.2.0 randomised clinical trial.

INTRODUCTION: Suicide is one of the leading public health issues worldwide. Mobile health can help us to combat suicide through monitoring and treatment. The SmartCrisis V.2.0 randomised clinical trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Intervention to prevent suicidal thoughts and behaviour. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The SmartCrisis V.2.0 study is a randomised clinical trial with two parallel groups, conducted among patients with a history of suicidal behaviour treated at five sites in France and Spain. The intervention group will be monitored using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and will receive an Ecological Momentary Intervention called 'SmartSafe' in addition to their treatment as usual (TAU). TAU will consist of mental health follow-up of the patient (scheduled appointments with a psychiatrist) in an outpatient Suicide Prevention programme, with predetermined clinical appointments according to the Brief Intervention Contact recommendations (1, 2, 4, 7 and 11 weeks and 4, 6, 9 and 12 months). The control group would receive TAU and be monitored using EMA. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz. It is expected that, in the near future, our mobile health intervention and monitoring system can be implemented in routine clinical practice. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and psychiatric congresses. Reference number EC005-21_FJD. Participants gave informed consent to participate in the study before taking part. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04775160.

Promoting Daily Well-being in Adolescents using mHealth.

Adolescents are at increased risk for developing mental health problems. The Grow It! app is an mHealth intervention aimed at preventing mental health problems through improving coping by cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-inspired challenges as well as self-monitoring of emotions through Experience Sampling Methods (ESM). Yet, little is known about daily changes in well-being and coping during a stressful period, like the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study aimed to elucidate daily changes in positive and negative affect, and adaptive coping, and to better understand the within-person's mechanisms of the Grow It! app. The sample consisted of 12-25-year old Dutch adolescents in two independent cohorts (cohort 1: N = 476, Mage = 16.24, 76.1% female, 88.7% Dutch; cohort 2: N = 814, Mage = 18.45, 82.8% female, 97.2% Dutch). ESM were used to measure daily positive and negative affect and coping (cohort 1: 42 days, 210 assessments per person; cohort 2: 21 days, 105 assessments). The results showed that, on average, adolescents decreased in daily positive affect and adaptive coping, and increased in their experienced negative affect. A positive relation between adaptive coping and positive affect was found, although independent of the CBT-based challenges. Latent class analysis identified two heterogeneous trajectories for both positive and negative affect, indicating that the majority of participants with low to moderate-risk on developing mental health problems were likely to benefit from the Grow It! app.

Diurnal dynamics of stress and mood during COVID-19 lockdown: a large multinational ecological momentary assessment study.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in severe disruption to people's lives as governments imposed national 'lockdowns'. Several large surveys have underlined the detrimental short- and long-term mental health consequences resulting from this disruption, but survey findings are only informative of individuals' retrospectively reported psychological states. Furthermore, knowledge on psychobiological responses to lockdown restrictions is scarce. We used smartphone-based real-time assessments in 731 participants for 7 days and investigated how individuals' self-reported stress and mood fluctuated diurnally during lockdown in spring 2020. We found that age, gender, financial security, depressive symptoms and trait loneliness modulated the diurnal dynamics of participants' momentary stress and mood. For example, younger and less financially secure individuals showed an attenuated decline in stress as the day progressed, and similarly, more lonely individuals showed a diminished increase in calmness throughout the day. Hair collected from a subsample (n = 140) indicated a decrease in cortisol concentrations following lockdown, but these changes were not related to any of the assessed person-related characteristics. Our findings provide novel insights into the psychobiological impact of lockdown and have implications for how, when and which individuals might benefit most from interventions during psychologically demanding periods.

Smartphone-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment of Coping with Loneliness amid COVID-19 in Germany.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have caused people to feel isolated, left out, and in need of companionship. Effective strategies to cope with such unrelenting feelings of loneliness are needed. In times of COVID-19, we conducted a smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study with 280 lonely participants in Germany over 7 months, where a long and hard second national lockdown was in place. Each participant reported their daily loneliness and coping strategies for loneliness once in the evening for 7 consecutive days. We found that managing emotions and social relationships were associated with decreased feelings of loneliness, while using a problem-focused coping strategy was associated with increased feelings of loneliness amid COVID-19. Interestingly, managing emotions was particularly effective for easing loneliness during the second lockdown. Females tend to use more emotion-focused coping strategies to overcome their loneliness compared to males. Our study highlights the importance of managing emotions against loneliness throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Designing technology that provides emotional support to people may be one of the keys to easing loneliness and promoting well-being.

Solitary Prosociality in Later Life: An Experience Sampling Study.

Loneliness is a risk factor for older adults, one exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although time spent alone is associated with both loneliness and greater well-being, the experience of solitude may depend on the type of activity pursued. We examined formal prosocial activity as one facilitator of positive solitary experiences. Older adults (N = 165, Mage = 71.13, SD = 5.70) highly committed to prosocial-program work (e.g., tutoring) filled out surveys at six random times every day for a week. Using multilevel modeling, we investigated whether participating in prosocial-program activity alone was associated with greater well-being compared to other solitary activity. While prosocial-program activity did not buffer against negative affect in solitude, it promoted positive affect and relatedness when alone. To the extent that prosocial-program work can facilitate positive solitary experiences by enhancing feelings of connection, it may protect against threats to well-being posed by loneliness in later life.

Development of a Web-App for the Ecological Momentary Assessment of Dietary Habits among College Students: The HEALTHY-UNICT Project.

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is a critical period for the development of healthy behaviors. Yet, it is often characterized by unhealthy food choices. Considering the current pandemic scenario, it is also essential to assess the effects of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) on lifestyles and diet, especially among young people. However, the assessment of dietary habits and their determinants is a complex issue that requires innovative approaches and tools, such as those based on the ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Here, we describe the first phases of the "HEALTHY-UNICT" project, which aimed to develop and validate a web-app for the EMA of dietary data among students from the University of Catania, Italy. The pilot study included 138 students (mean age 24 years, SD = 4.2; 75.4% women), who used the web-app for a week before filling out a food frequency questionnaire with validation purposes. Dietary data obtained through the two tools showed moderate correlations, with the lowest value for butter and margarine and the highest for pizza (Spearman's correlation coefficients of 0.202 and 0.699, respectively). According to the cross-classification analysis, the percentage of students classified into the same quartile ranged from 36.9% for vegetable oil to 58.1% for pizza. In line with these findings, the weighted-kappa values ranged from 0.15 for vegetable oil to 0.67 for pizza, and most food categories showed values above 0.4. This web-app showed good usability among students, assessed through a 19-item usability scale. Moreover, the web-app also had the potential to evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on students' behaviors and emotions, showing a moderate impact on sedentary activities, level of stress, and depression. These findings, although interesting, might be confirmed by the next phases of the HEALTHY-UNICT project, which aims to characterize lifestyles, dietary habits, and their relationship with anthropometric measures and emotions in a larger sample of students.

Adapting Research to a Global Pandemic: A Fully Remote Actigraphy and Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

BACKGROUND: Mandated social distancing practices and quarantines in response to COVID-19 have resulted in challenges for research on healthcare workers, such as hospital nurses. It remains unknown whether nursing studies utilizing complex methodology like sleep actigraphy and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) can be conducted remotely without compromising data quality. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to (a) disseminate our remote study protocol for sleep actigraphy and EMA data from hospital nurses during COVID-19, (b) assess feasibility and acceptability of this approach for studies on hospital nurses, and (c) examine the reliability and ecological validity of sleep characteristics measured across 14 days. METHODS: Using an online platform, we provided 86 outpatient nurses from a cancer hospital with detailed video/text instructions regarding the study and facilitated virtual study onboarding meetings. Feasibility was assessed by comparing adherence rates to a similar in-person study of nurses from the same hospital; acceptability was evaluated through content analysis of qualitative study feedback. Multilevel modeling was conducted to assess changes in sleep characteristics as a function of study day and daily stressful experiences. RESULTS: Adherence to EMA (91.8%) and actigraphy (97.9%) was high. EMA adherence was higher than the in-person study of inpatient day-shift nurses from the same hospital. Content analyses revealed primarily positive feedback, with 51.2% reporting "easy, clear, simple onboarding" and 16.3% reporting the website was "helpful." Six participants provided only negative feedback. Sleep characteristics did not change as a function of study day except for self-reported quality, which increased slightly during Week 1 and regressed toward baseline after that. A higher incidence of stressor days or higher stressor severity followed nights with shorter-than-usual time in bed or poorer-than-usual sleep quality, supporting the ecological validity for these methods of assessing sleep in nurses. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that a fully remote study protocol for EMA and actigraphy studies in nursing yields robust feasibility, acceptability, reliability, and validity. Given the busy schedules of nurses, the convenience of this approach may be preferable to traditional in-person data collection. Lessons learned from COVID-19 may apply to improving nursing research postpandemic.

Statistical Considerations for Analyzing Ecological Momentary Assessment Data.

PURPOSE: The analysis of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data can be difficult to conceptualize due to the complexity of how the data are collected. The goal of this tutorial is to provide an overview of statistical considerations for analyzing observational data arising from EMA studies. METHOD: EMA data are collected in a variety of ways, complicating the statistical analysis. We focus on fundamental statistical characteristics of the data and general purpose statistical approaches to analyzing EMA data. We implement those statistical approaches using a recent study involving EMA. RESULTS: The linear or generalized linear mixed-model statistical approach can adequately capture the challenges resulting from EMA collected data if properly set up. Additionally, while sample size depends on both the number of participants and the number of survey responses per participant, having more participants is more important than the number of responses per participant. CONCLUSION: Using modern statistical methods when analyzing EMA data and adequately considering all of the statistical assumptions being used can lead to interesting and important findings when using EMA. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.17155961.

A day in the life of a college student during the COVID-19 pandemic: An experience sampling approach to emotion regulation.

COVID-19 has contributed to unexpected stressors in daily life, and emotion regulation is an important area of research during and post-pandemic to gain knowledge of the effect of the pandemic on emotion regulatory processes. We adopted an ecologically valid approach to collect 10 experience sampling events within the same day to examine how college students regulated their emotions on a typical weekday during the pandemic and the simultaneous hedonic association of these strategies on their affective experience. Several emotion regulation strategies (including acceptance, calming, reappraisal, problem solving, and social sharing) were associated with increased positivity or reduced negativity that may be better for psychological health. In contrast, other emotion regulation strategies (including rumination, experiential avoidance, catastrophizing, lack of clarity, self-blaming, and other-blaming) were associated with increased negativity or reduced positivity that may worsen psychological health. In these findings, self-reported stress was a crucial contextual moderator to consider while understanding the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and experienced affect. The current study documents variability in affect in response to stressors experienced by college students even within a single day and provides a real-world perspective on the emotion regulation strategies that were adaptive and maladaptive in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.