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. 2006 Jan;31(1):13-20.

Ecological momentary assessment: what it is and why it is a method of the future in clinical psychopharmacology

Debbie S Moskowitz  1 , Simon N Young
Affiliations

Ecological momentary assessment: what it is and why it is a method of the future in clinical psychopharmacology

Debbie S Moskowitz et al. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2006 Jan.

Abstract
in English, French

Current methods of assessment in clinical psychopharmacology have several serious disadvantages, particularly for the study of social functioning. We aimed to review the strengths and weaknesses of current methods used in clinical psychopharmacology and to compare them with a group of methods, developed by personality/social psychologists, termed ecological momentary assessment (EMA), which permit the research participant to report on symptoms, affect and behaviour close in time to experience and which sample many events or time periods. EMA has a number of advantages over more traditional methods for the assessment of patients in clinical psychopharmacological studies. It can both complement and, in part, replace existing methods. EMA methods will permit more sensitive assessments and will enable more wide-ranging and detailed measurements of mood and behaviour. These types of methods should be adopted more widely by clinical psychopharmacology researchers.

Les méthodes actuelles d'évaluation en psychopharmacologie clinique présentent plusieurs inconvénients sérieux, en particulier pour l'étude du fonctionnement social. Nous voulions étudier les forces et les faiblesses des méthodes actuellement utilisées en psychopharmacologie clinique et les comparer à un ensemble de méthodes mises au point par des psychologues spécialistes de la personnalité et des sociopsychologues, appelé évaluation écologique ponctuelle (EEP), et qui permet au participant à la recherche de signaler symptômes, affect et comportements presque au moment où il les vit et d'échantillonner de nombreux événements ou périodes. L'EEP offre de nombreux avantages sur les méthodes plus traditionnelles d'évaluation des patients au cours d'études en psychopharmacologie clinique. Elle peut à la fois compléter des méthodes existantes et les remplacer en partie. Les méthodes d'EEP permettront d'effectuer des évaluations plus sensibles et des mesures de plus grande envergure et plus détaillées d'humeur et de comportement. Les chercheurs en psychopharmacologie clinique devraient adopter ces méthodes en plus grands nombres.

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