Smartphone sensing of social interactions in people with and without schizophrenia

Nov 16, 2020Journal of psychiatric research

Using Smartphones to Detect Social Interactions in People With and Without Schizophrenia

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Abstract

Passive markers of mobility were more consistently associated with self-reported social behavior in control participants than in those with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Smaller social network size, diminished social skills, and loneliness are prevalent in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Active measures of social activity, such as self-reported interactions, were assessed using Ecological Momentary Assessment.
Dispositional loneliness showed associations with mobility metrics in both individuals with schizophrenia and controls.
Interactions detected through ambient audio were more closely linked to social functioning in individuals with schizophrenia compared to controls.
Findings suggest that smartphone-based digital phenotyping may provide objective markers of social activity.

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Social impairment is a cardinal feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SZ). Smaller social network size, diminished social skills, and loneliness are highly prevalent. Existing, gold-standard assessments of social impairment in SZ often rely on self-reported information that depends on retrospective recall and detailed accounts of complex social behaviors. This is particularly problematic in people with SZ given characteristic cognitive impairments and reduced insight. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA; repeated self-reports completed in the context of daily life) allows for the measurement of social behavior as it occurs in vivo, yet still relies on participant input. Momentary characterization of behavior using smartphone sensors (e.g., GPS, microphone) may also provide ecologically valid indicators of social functioning. In the current study we tested associations between both active (e.g., EMA-reported number of interactions) and passive (GPS-based mobility, conversations captured by microphone) smartphone-based measures of social activity and measures of social functioning and loneliness to examine the promise of such measures for understanding social impairment in SZ. Our results indicate that passive markers of mobility were more consistently associated with EMA measures of social behavior in controls than in people with SZ. Furthermore, dispositional loneliness showed associations with mobility metrics in both groups, while general social functioning was less related to these metrics. Finally, interactions detected in the ambient audio were more tied to social functioning in SZ than in controls. Findings speak to the promise of smartphone-based digital phenotyping as an approach to understanding objective markers of social activity in people with and without schizophrenia.

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Smartphone sensing of social interactions in people with and without schizophrenia

Abstract

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