JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is an increasingly popular tool used to measure real time symptom burden within mental healthcare, including for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, prior studies in the literature have been limited by brief assessment periods, high participant burden, and heterogeneity in both sampling and symptom assessment methodology.

Objective:

This study aimed to validate a 12-item EMA questionnaire of OCD symptoms by evaluating its psychometric properties over an extended monitoring period.

Methods:

Adults with OCD (n = 22) and demographically matched healthy controls (n = 19) completed up to 70 daily smartphone-delivered EMA surveys assessing the frequency and emotional impact of obsessions and compulsions. OCD participants also underwent clinician-administered Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) evaluations at weeks 0, 2, and 10.

Results:

Our scale demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.96) and convergent validity, with significant correlation with Y-BOCS scores at week 2 (ρ=0.59, P=.004) and week 10 (ρ=0.53, P=.010). Participant retention (89.1%) and questionnaire completion rate (89.0%) were also higher than those seen in the literature (75.2% and 74.2%, respectively).

Conclusions:

Overall, we provide initial psychometric support for the use of a low-burden EMA to capture day-to-day OCD symptom fluctuations over extended periods. Such tools may enhance longitudinal symptom monitoring, improve treatment response tracking, and address limitations inherent in traditional retrospective assessments.