Examining missingness at the momentary level in clinical research using ecological momentary assessment: Implications for suicide research

The use of intensive time sampling methods, such as ecological momentary assessment (EMA), has increased in clinical, and specifically suicide, research during the past decade. While EMA can capture dynamic intraindividual processes, repeated assessments increase participant burden, potentially resu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of clinical psychology 2024-10, Vol.80 (10), p.2147-2162
Main Authors: Jacobucci, Ross, Ammerman, Brooke A., McClure, Kenneth
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
assessment
Compliance
Ecological Momentary Assessment
Female
Humans
intensive longitudinal
Machine Learning
Male
Middle Aged
Suicidal Ideation
Suicide - psychology
Suicides & suicide attempts
Young Adult
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Summary:The use of intensive time sampling methods, such as ecological momentary assessment (EMA), has increased in clinical, and specifically suicide, research during the past decade. While EMA can capture dynamic intraindividual processes, repeated assessments increase participant burden, potentially resulting in low compliance. This study aimed to shed light on study‐level and psychological variables, including suicidal ideation (SI), that may predict momentary prompt (i.e., prompt‐to‐prompt) completion. We combined data from three EMA studies examining mental health difficulties (N = 103; 10,656 prompts; 7144 completed), using multilevel models and machine learning to determine how well we can predict prompt‐to‐prompt completion and which variables are most important. The two most important variables in prompt‐to‐prompt completion were hours since the last prompt and time in study. Psychological variables added little predictive validity; similarly, trait‐level SI demonstrated a small effect on prompt‐to‐prompt completion. Our study showed how study‐level characteristics can be used to explain prompt‐to‐prompt compliance rates in EMA research, highlighting the potential for developing adaptive assessment schedules to improve compliance.
ISSN:0021-9762
1097-4679
1097-4679
DOI:10.1002/jclp.23728