JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Daily activities shape individuals’ health and well-being, reflecting functioning and lived health. For people with neurological conditions these activities are often disrupted, impacting autonomy and quality of life. Traditional assessments miss subtle, real-time fluctuations, whereas Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) captures moment-to-moment activity within natural contexts, offering insight into person-environment-occupation interactions. Despite its growing use, it remains unclear how EMA protocols conceptualize daily activities and integrate person-environment-occupation dimensions in its application for neurological populations.

Objective:

The aim of this scoping review is to map the existing literature on the use of EMA to capture daily activities, ranging from basic self-care to more complex activities, in individuals with neurological disorders.

Methods:

A scoping review was conducted, identifying 341 articles, to map studies using EMA to capture daily activities in adults with neurological conditions, with specific focus on content and practical application.

Results:

Twenty studies using EMA to assess daily activities in neurological populations were included, mostly observational, with two longitudinal studies and two RCTs. Daily activity questions and response formats varied, often using multiple-choice lists; only one allowed open-ended responses. Alongside the daily activity questions additional constructs in the EMA captured person (physical, affective, cognitive), environment (physical, social), and occupation domains, plus motivation and EMA disturbance. Protocols differed in setting, schedule, technology, and adherence, with most reporting completion rates above 70%.

Conclusions:

Captures daily activities through EMA in neurological populations, shows high adherence despite varied designs, questions, and technologies. The findings indicate that the phrasing of EMA items, the predominance of closed-response formats, and the narrow focus on the verb “doing” limit the depth and nuance of the data collected, often overlooking important aspects of performance and/or engagement in daily activities.