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Poster #M201 EXPERIENCE SAMPLING METHOD THROUGH A SMARTPHONE APP: THE CASE OF CITY LIVING & PSYCHOSIS
Abstracts of the 4th Biennial Schizophrenia International Research Conference / Schizophrenia Research 153, Supplement 1 (2014) S1–S384
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between self-clarity and meaning in life when controlling for self-stigma (β=0.21, p<0.05). The Sobel test revealed that this difference was significant (Z=3.09, p<0.01). In addition, analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between meaning in life and recovery when controlling for selfstigma (and self-clarity) (β=0.62, p<0.001) but did not reveal a significant negative correlation between self-stigma and recovery when controlling for meaning in life (and self-clarity) (β=−0.11, p>0.05). The correlation between self-stigma and recovery decreased from β=−0.47 to β=−0.11 when controlling for meaning in life (and self-clarity). The Sobel test revealed that this difference was significant (Z=−3.96, p<0.001). No direct relationship was uncovered between self-clarity and recovery. Discussion: The growing empirical and theoretical attention to both the experience of self in schizophrenia and the concept of recovery calls for the need to better understand the relation between the two and identify possible mediators. The results of the current study are consistent with previous literature on the experience of the self, self-stigma and meaning among persons with schizophrenia. It adds to this literature by suggesting a process model regarding the construction of self-experience and meaning are in the recovery process. Implications of the current study for future research and clinical practice are discussed with the emphasis on the importance of the self-experience with regard to the process of recovery.
nia Label/Symptoms Present condition, participants in this condition were most likely to believe that people with schizophrenia should face social restrictions. Discussion: Our findings support that both implicit and explicit beliefs help develop and sustain stigma. Our study was the first to assess the feasibility of using the FTV bias for PLFs as an implicit measure of perceived threat. Implicit assessments of stigma may be able to provide more information than explicit measures alone. This has implications for future stigma research, as the PLF task that we used in the present study can provide a fast and easy-to-administer implicit assessment of stigma. Future research on stigma using implicit measures is necessary in order to identify the contributions that implicitly and explicitly held beliefs have towards the development and maintenance of stigma towards individuals with schizophrenia.
Poster #M200 ASSESSING THREAT RESPONSES TOWARDS THE SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA BY MEASURING VISUAL PERCEPTUAL BIASES
Background: The Experience Sampling Method [ESM] is a structured diary technique that captures moment-to-moment information within the flow of daily life. This approach has many advantages (eg. combating recall bias). ESM is commonly administered using palmtops or similar equipment which can present methodological challenges (eg. malfunction and forgetting to carry equipment). The development of new technologies, such as Smartphone applications (apps), grants an opportunity for improvement in ESM research. Apps can be used to gather data at multiple times a day over a prolonged period of time removing some of the methodological challenges discussed, making this type of research more practical and cost-effective. Examining the relationship between city living and psychosis is an ideal topic to test the feasibility of this approach given the unique benefits of an app (eg. use of GPS co-ordinates rather than reliance on self-reported location). Methods: A group of staff and students from a several UK universities are followed over a period of 7 days and asked to respond to 3 beeps/alerts a day reporting their psychopathological symptoms (mood and psychotic like experiences). At the time of responding the GPS co-ordinates of the participants’ location is recorded. At the end of the study participants are asked to provide feedback on the experience of using the app. Results: Data pertaining to the feasibility of the app and preliminary findings of this pilot study will be presented. Discussion: The costs and benefits of using apps within the research arena will be addressed.
Adam Heenan, Michael Best, Sarah Ouellette, Erin Meiklejohn, Nikolaus Troje, Chris Bowie Queen’s University Background: Stigma towards individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia continues despite increasing public knowledge about the disorder. Questionnaires are used almost exclusively to assess stigma despite self-report biases affecting their validity. Perceived threat is known to be a key element in stigma, and recently researchers have argued that perceptual biases for point-light walkers (PLFs) may be moderated by perceived threat. Specifically, researchers have found that greater facing the viewer (FTV) biases for depth-ambiguous PLFs (i.e., a bias to see these figures as facing towards you more often) is associated with greater perceived threat (e.g., more anxious people tend to have greater FTV biases). Observing perceptual biases elicited by such figures may therefore provide an implicit method of analyzing stigma because it allows researchers to assess perceived threat without asking participants about this directly. The purpose of this experiment was to implicitly assess stigma towards individuals with schizophrenia by measuring participants’ FTV biases immediately before and after participants conversed with a confederate. Methods: Participants entered the laboratory and immediately completed the perceptual bias task. The perceptual bias task consisted of short (0.5 s) presentations of rotating PLFs, which participants then responded to regarding which way they perceived the figure rotating (i.e., clockwise or counter-clockwise). Unbeknownst to participants, all PLFs were rendered rotating counter-clockwise, but could be perceived rotating in either direction because of their depth-ambiguous nature. We could thus calculate each participant’s FTV bias by comparing their responses with the veridical walker positions. Once participants completed the initial perceptual bias task, they then conversed with a confederate for 10 minutes. We manipulated both the diagnostic label attributed to the confederate (peer vs. schizophrenia) and the presence of behavioural symptoms (present vs. absent). Immediately after conversing with the confederate, we again measured participants’ FTV biases using the perceptual bias task. Following the completing of the PLF task, we administered an explicit measure of stigma as well (i.e., the Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill questionnaire, or CAMI). Results: As researchers have found that stronger FTV biases are elicited by more threatening stimuli, we hypothesized that FTV biases would be greater after participants conversed with someone they believed had schizophrenia, and also after they conversed with someone who presented symptoms of schizophrenia. We found partial support for these hypotheses. Participants had significantly greater FTV biases in the Peer Label/Symptoms Present condition. Interestingly, while FTV biases were lowest in the Schizophre-
Poster #M201 EXPERIENCE SAMPLING METHOD THROUGH A SMARTPHONE APP: THE CASE OF CITY LIVING & PSYCHOSIS Georgina M. Hosang 1,2 1 Psychology Department, Goldsmiths, University of London; 2 MRC SGDP Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London
Poster #M202 COMPARING ILLNESS PRESENTATION, TREATMENT AND FUNCTIONING BETWEEN PATIENTS WITH EARLY- AND ADULT-ONSET PSYCHOSIS Christy L.M. Hui 1 , W.C. Chang 2 , Sherry K.W. Chan 1 , Edwin H.M. Lee 1 , Eric Y.H. Chen 1 1 The University of Hong Kong; 2 Department of Psychiatry, HKU Background: Early studies have shown that patients with early- and adult-onset schizophrenia differ in their illness presentation, psychopathology, pre-morbid traits and prognosis. Whether adult-onset schizophrenia represents a separate entity distinct from early-onset schizophrenia is yet uncertain. Therefore, the current study aimed at characterizing and contrasting adult-onset patients with an early-onset cohort in their basic demographics, illness presentation, treatment and functional level. Methods: Participants were recruited from two territory-wide early intervention services for early-onset (n=671; from the Early Assessment Service for Young People with Psychosis Program, EASY) and late-onset psychosis patients (n=360; from the Jockey Club Early Psychosis Project, JCEP) in Hong Kong. Patients from the early-onset cohort had their initial psychotic episode during 2001 and 2003; data were then collected retrospectively by systematic case note review. The adult-onset cohort was prospectively
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between self-clarity and meaning in life when controlling for self-stigma (β=0.21, p<0.05). The Sobel test revealed that this difference was significant (Z=3.09, p<0.01). In addition, analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between meaning in life and recovery when controlling for selfstigma (and self-clarity) (β=0.62, p<0.001) but did not reveal a significant negative correlation between self-stigma and recovery when controlling for meaning in life (and self-clarity) (β=−0.11, p>0.05). The correlation between self-stigma and recovery decreased from β=−0.47 to β=−0.11 when controlling for meaning in life (and self-clarity). The Sobel test revealed that this difference was significant (Z=−3.96, p<0.001). No direct relationship was uncovered between self-clarity and recovery. Discussion: The growing empirical and theoretical attention to both the experience of self in schizophrenia and the concept of recovery calls for the need to better understand the relation between the two and identify possible mediators. The results of the current study are consistent with previous literature on the experience of the self, self-stigma and meaning among persons with schizophrenia. It adds to this literature by suggesting a process model regarding the construction of self-experience and meaning are in the recovery process. Implications of the current study for future research and clinical practice are discussed with the emphasis on the importance of the self-experience with regard to the process of recovery.
nia Label/Symptoms Present condition, participants in this condition were most likely to believe that people with schizophrenia should face social restrictions. Discussion: Our findings support that both implicit and explicit beliefs help develop and sustain stigma. Our study was the first to assess the feasibility of using the FTV bias for PLFs as an implicit measure of perceived threat. Implicit assessments of stigma may be able to provide more information than explicit measures alone. This has implications for future stigma research, as the PLF task that we used in the present study can provide a fast and easy-to-administer implicit assessment of stigma. Future research on stigma using implicit measures is necessary in order to identify the contributions that implicitly and explicitly held beliefs have towards the development and maintenance of stigma towards individuals with schizophrenia.
Poster #M200 ASSESSING THREAT RESPONSES TOWARDS THE SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA BY MEASURING VISUAL PERCEPTUAL BIASES
Background: The Experience Sampling Method [ESM] is a structured diary technique that captures moment-to-moment information within the flow of daily life. This approach has many advantages (eg. combating recall bias). ESM is commonly administered using palmtops or similar equipment which can present methodological challenges (eg. malfunction and forgetting to carry equipment). The development of new technologies, such as Smartphone applications (apps), grants an opportunity for improvement in ESM research. Apps can be used to gather data at multiple times a day over a prolonged period of time removing some of the methodological challenges discussed, making this type of research more practical and cost-effective. Examining the relationship between city living and psychosis is an ideal topic to test the feasibility of this approach given the unique benefits of an app (eg. use of GPS co-ordinates rather than reliance on self-reported location). Methods: A group of staff and students from a several UK universities are followed over a period of 7 days and asked to respond to 3 beeps/alerts a day reporting their psychopathological symptoms (mood and psychotic like experiences). At the time of responding the GPS co-ordinates of the participants’ location is recorded. At the end of the study participants are asked to provide feedback on the experience of using the app. Results: Data pertaining to the feasibility of the app and preliminary findings of this pilot study will be presented. Discussion: The costs and benefits of using apps within the research arena will be addressed.
Adam Heenan, Michael Best, Sarah Ouellette, Erin Meiklejohn, Nikolaus Troje, Chris Bowie Queen’s University Background: Stigma towards individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia continues despite increasing public knowledge about the disorder. Questionnaires are used almost exclusively to assess stigma despite self-report biases affecting their validity. Perceived threat is known to be a key element in stigma, and recently researchers have argued that perceptual biases for point-light walkers (PLFs) may be moderated by perceived threat. Specifically, researchers have found that greater facing the viewer (FTV) biases for depth-ambiguous PLFs (i.e., a bias to see these figures as facing towards you more often) is associated with greater perceived threat (e.g., more anxious people tend to have greater FTV biases). Observing perceptual biases elicited by such figures may therefore provide an implicit method of analyzing stigma because it allows researchers to assess perceived threat without asking participants about this directly. The purpose of this experiment was to implicitly assess stigma towards individuals with schizophrenia by measuring participants’ FTV biases immediately before and after participants conversed with a confederate. Methods: Participants entered the laboratory and immediately completed the perceptual bias task. The perceptual bias task consisted of short (0.5 s) presentations of rotating PLFs, which participants then responded to regarding which way they perceived the figure rotating (i.e., clockwise or counter-clockwise). Unbeknownst to participants, all PLFs were rendered rotating counter-clockwise, but could be perceived rotating in either direction because of their depth-ambiguous nature. We could thus calculate each participant’s FTV bias by comparing their responses with the veridical walker positions. Once participants completed the initial perceptual bias task, they then conversed with a confederate for 10 minutes. We manipulated both the diagnostic label attributed to the confederate (peer vs. schizophrenia) and the presence of behavioural symptoms (present vs. absent). Immediately after conversing with the confederate, we again measured participants’ FTV biases using the perceptual bias task. Following the completing of the PLF task, we administered an explicit measure of stigma as well (i.e., the Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill questionnaire, or CAMI). Results: As researchers have found that stronger FTV biases are elicited by more threatening stimuli, we hypothesized that FTV biases would be greater after participants conversed with someone they believed had schizophrenia, and also after they conversed with someone who presented symptoms of schizophrenia. We found partial support for these hypotheses. Participants had significantly greater FTV biases in the Peer Label/Symptoms Present condition. Interestingly, while FTV biases were lowest in the Schizophre-
Poster #M201 EXPERIENCE SAMPLING METHOD THROUGH A SMARTPHONE APP: THE CASE OF CITY LIVING & PSYCHOSIS Georgina M. Hosang 1,2 1 Psychology Department, Goldsmiths, University of London; 2 MRC SGDP Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London
Poster #M202 COMPARING ILLNESS PRESENTATION, TREATMENT AND FUNCTIONING BETWEEN PATIENTS WITH EARLY- AND ADULT-ONSET PSYCHOSIS Christy L.M. Hui 1 , W.C. Chang 2 , Sherry K.W. Chan 1 , Edwin H.M. Lee 1 , Eric Y.H. Chen 1 1 The University of Hong Kong; 2 Department of Psychiatry, HKU Background: Early studies have shown that patients with early- and adult-onset schizophrenia differ in their illness presentation, psychopathology, pre-morbid traits and prognosis. Whether adult-onset schizophrenia represents a separate entity distinct from early-onset schizophrenia is yet uncertain. Therefore, the current study aimed at characterizing and contrasting adult-onset patients with an early-onset cohort in their basic demographics, illness presentation, treatment and functional level. Methods: Participants were recruited from two territory-wide early intervention services for early-onset (n=671; from the Early Assessment Service for Young People with Psychosis Program, EASY) and late-onset psychosis patients (n=360; from the Jockey Club Early Psychosis Project, JCEP) in Hong Kong. Patients from the early-onset cohort had their initial psychotic episode during 2001 and 2003; data were then collected retrospectively by systematic case note review. The adult-onset cohort was prospectively