Symposium 79 - The Latest Technology Research across the Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders: Research from Academia and Industry, across Youth and Adults

Chair(s)

• 

  Hilary Weingarden, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

  clinical Research Director
  HabitAware
  Arlington, MA, United States

Discussant(s)

• 

  Sabine Wilhelm, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

  Director, Center for Digital Mental Health, MGH; Professor, Harvard Medical School
  Massachusetts General Hospital
  Boston, MA, United States

Presenter(s)

• JF

  Jamie Feusner, M.D. (he/him/his)

  University of Toronto
  Toronto, ON, Canada
• 

  Hilary Weingarden, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

  clinical Research Director
  HabitAware
  Arlington, MA, United States
• 

  Geneva Jonathan, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

  Massachusetts General Hospital
  Boston, MA, United States
• 

  Leila Capel, M.S. (she/her/hers)

  Pre-doctoral Psychology Intern
  Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
  Logan, UT, United States

  Handouts
• 

  Fanny Dietel, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

  Postdoctoral clinical research fellow
  University of Osnabrueck, Germany
  Osnabrueck, Niedersachsen, Germany

While CBT is highly effective for obsessive compulsive and related disorders (OCRDs), there are many for whom CBT is not effective or accessible enough. This symposium highlights novel high-impact research focused on using technology to enhance treatment of OCRDs. Uniquely, this symposium includes talks across OCRDs, including obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), trichotillomania (TTM), and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), with diverse participants from across the lifespan. For a rich view into current advances, we highlight latest findings from researchers in academic, academic medical center, and industry settings within and outside the U.S.

The first study examines the impact of video-based virtual exposure and response prevention on youth with OCD and is the largest study of OCD treatment in children and adolescents (N=2,173). Results show that virtual therapy can effectively and efficiently improve symptoms in young people with mild to severe OCD and highlights how teletherapy delivers results and expands access to specialized treatment. The second talk highlights findings from an NIH-funded industry-academic partnership to develop commercially-deployable just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) from 6 weeks of GPS and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data in adults with TTM. The talk showcases methods and results related to building and initially testing this novel JITAI algorithm that delivers context-based alerts to build hairpulling awareness and suggest intervention opportunities. The third talk describes the feasibility of using smartphone sensor and demographic data to detect EMA-reported daily suicide risk and clinical deterioration in adults with BDD. Machine learning model results show that step count and demographic features contributed to predicting clinical outcomes; random forest models outperformed baseline models. Findings suggest that low-burden data can be integrated into interventions or clinical decision-making to facilitate personalized, timely, and adaptive treatment. The fourth study evaluated the effect of treatment check-ins on adherence to online ACT-enhanced habit reversal training for adults with TTM, by randomizing participants to check-in or no check-in conditions. Results showed no significant differences in adherence or efficacy between groups – findings with clear implications for scalability and increased access to digital treatments. The fifth talk will cover a meta-analysis evaluating efficacy of digital health interventions (DHI) for OCRDs in children, adolescents and young adults. This meta-analysis synthesizes results from 21 RCTs, to gauge efficacy and key outcome predictors of DHI for OCRDs (e.g. baseline participant features, treatment modalities), informing DHI optimization for standalone and blended-care applications. Findings have implications for improving access to evidence-based care in underrepresented and treatment-resistant youth populations with OCRDs. Finally, our esteemed discussant – an academic medical center Chief of Psychology and Director of its Center for Digital Mental Health, and a former ABCT president – will synthesize key takeaways and discuss where we are headed in tech-based care for OCRDs.

Presentations:

• 12:05 PM - 12:22 PM CST

  (SYM 79) Real-world Clinical Outcomes from Digital Behavioural Health Treatment: Evidence from a Large-scale Observational Analysis in Pediatric OCD
  

  Speaker: Jamie Feusner, M.D. (he/him/his) – University of Toronto

  Co-author: Nicholas Farrell, Ph.D. – NOCD

  Co-author: Mia Nuñez, PhD (she/her/hers) – NOCD, Inc.

  Co-author: Nicholas Lume, B.S. (he/him/his) – NOCD, Inc.

  Co-author: Catherine MacDonald, B.A. (she/her/hers) – NOCD, Inc.

  Co-author: Patrick McGrath, PhD (he/him/his) – NOCD, Inc.

  Co-author: Clare Beatty, M.A. (she/her/hers) – NOCD, Inc.

  Co-author: Larry Trusky, B.S. (he/him/his) – NOCD, Inc.

  Co-author: Stephen Smith, B.A. (he/him/his) – NOCD, Inc.

  Co-author: Andreas Rhode, PhD (he/him/his) – NOCD, Inc.
• 12:22 PM - 12:39 PM CST

  (SYM 79) Building Just-in-time Interventions in Trichotillomania Using Intensive Longitudinal Data
  

  Speaker: Hilary Weingarden, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – HabitAware

  Co-author: John Pritchard, B.S. (he/him/his) – Habitaware

  Co-author: Megan DuBois, B.A. – Kent State University

  Co-author: Bridget Feler, B.A. – Kent State University

  Co-author: Kimi Skokin, MLA – HabitAware

  Co-author: Kirk Klobe, B.S. (he/him/his) – Habitaware

  Co-author: Maftuna Abduganieva, B.A. – Kent State University

  Co-author: Mari Larsen, B.A. – HabitAware

  Co-author: Aneela Idnani, BS – HabitAware

  Co-author: Christopher Flessner, PhD – Kent State University

  Co-author: Sameer Kumar, B.S., Other (he/him/his) – Habitaware
• 12:39 PM - 12:56 PM CST

  (SYM 79) Low-burden Detection of Clinical Worsening in Body Dysmorphic Disorder Using Smartphone Sensor and Demographic Data
  

  Speaker: Geneva K. Jonathan, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Massachusetts General Hospital

  Co-author: Vincent Holstein, MD (he/him/his) – Massachusetts General Hospital

  Co-author: Michael Armey, PhD – Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

  Co-author: Jukka-Pekka Onnela, DSc – Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

  Co-author: Hilary Weingarden, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – HabitAware
• 12:56 PM - 1:13 PM CST

  (SYM 79) Assessing Factors of Adherence and Efficacy of a Fully Automated Self-help ACT Enhanced Behavior Therapy Website for Adults with Trichotillomania: A Randomized Controlled Trial
  

  Speaker: Leila Capel, M.S. (she/her/hers) – Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

  Co-author: Emily M. Bowers, M.S. (she/her/hers) – Utah State University

  Co-author: McKenzie Becker, B.A. (she/her/hers) – Utah State University

  Co-author: Marisa Davis, B.S. – Utah State University

  Co-author: Michael P. Twohig, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Utah State University

  Co-author: Michael E. Levin, Ph.D. – Utah State University
• 1:13 PM - 1:30 PM CST

  (SYM 79) Efficacy of Digital Health Interventions for Obsessive-compulsive and Related Disorders in Youth: A Meta-analysis
  

  Speaker: Fanny A. Dietel, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Osnabrueck, Germany

  Co-author: Isabel Brandhorst, PhD – University Hospital Tuebingen, Germany

  Co-author: Katharina Allgaier, PhD – University Hospital Tuebingen, Germany

  Co-author: Lukasz Stasielowicz, PhD – University of Osnabrueck

  Co-author: Johanna Loechner, Prof. Dr. – Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen