Ecological Momentary Assessment and Ambulatory Assessment

Ecological Momentary Assessment and Ambulatory Assessment: 

Ambulatory assessment (AA) encompasses a wide range of methods used to study people in their natural environment, including momentary self-report (e.g., ecological momentary assessment [EMA]), observational (e.g., audio- or video-recording; activity monitoring), and physiological (e.g., cardiac and respiratory activity assessed using physiological sensors worn by participants) methods. Data from AA methods can characterize and test dynamic psychological processes, including emotions, cognitive styles and expectations, behavior patterns, and physiological correlates of daily life. In particular, AA methods can provide real-time (or near real-time) assessments which minimize retrospective and heuristic biases that are known to systematically distort past experiences and events. 

In addition, the collection of many assessments over time provides a temporal dimension to the monitoring of psychological constructs, especially crucial in the case of processes like emotion that are known to be dynamic, to fluctuate over time, and to change as a result of both external and internal influences. Finally, obtaining assessments in individuals’ natural environment improves external validity, allowing one to observe and evaluate potential influences on psychological processes which are often experimentally eliminated or controlled in the laboratory.

Since 2004, Dr. Trull has worked on several projects that use AA to examine mood, impulsivity, personality, and substance use in those with BPD or other emotional dysregulation disorders. In the first of these studies, different methods, techniques, and findings from the fields of affect and emotion, behavioral assessment, and psychometrics were used to shed light on affective instability. Specifically, an intensive study of affective instability was conducted using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) --- a real-time assessment of behaviors, emotions, and cognitive variables via handheld computers. Study participants included BPD outpatients and psychiatric controls with current depressive disorder who rated their mood states, behaviors, and life events six times per day for a 28-day period. Results from this study have shed light on the nature and measurement of affective instability in BPD, the relation between EMA and retrospective reports of affective instability, and the relations between affective instability and substance use or interpersonal problems. The lab is also analyzing several other recently collected ambulatory assessment data sets (self-report, physiology, activity, and location) that include those with BPD, depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and community controls. Finally, Dr. Trull has co-authored several articles on the use of EMA/ESM approaches in clinical and psychological science. Dr. Trull has received funding from NIAAA and NIMH to continue this line of research on emotion dysregulation and affective instability, and the use of EMA/AA in the study of psychopathology will be a major focus for Dr. Trull in the future. For the research described above, Dr. Trull played critical roles in all aspects of the research (i.e., study planning, obtaining funding, framing the research question, data analytic approach, and ms. preparation).

Related Publications: 

• Trull, T. J., Solhan, M. B., Tragesser, S. L., Jahng, S., Wood, P. K., Piasecki, T. M., & Watson, D. (2008). Affective instability: Measuring a core feature of borderline personality disorder with ecological momentary assessment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 647-661. PMID: 18729616

• Trull, T. J., & Ebner-Priemer, U. W. (2013). Ambulatory assessment. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 9, 151-176. PMC4249763

• Trull, T. J., & Ebner-Priemer, U. W. (2014). The role of ambulatory assessment in psychological science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 466-470. PMC4269226 

• Scheiderer, E. M., Wang, T., Tomko, R. L., Wood, P. K., & Trull, T. J. (in press). Negative Affect Instability among Individuals with Comorbid Borderline Personality Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Clinical Psychological Science.