170 research outputs found
Wrist Angel - Qualitative Interview procedure
No full textDescribes qualitative interview procedure exploring experiences of OCD patients' and their parents' use of the E4 wristband for symptom monitoring.
The correct author list and order: Amalie Stougaard, Line Katrine Harder Clemmensen, Anne Katrine Pagsberg, & Nicole Nadine Lønfeld
Towards an interpretable and transferable acoustic emotion recognition for the detection of mental disorders
No full textMotivation
Automatic speech emotion recognition (ASER) refers to a group of algorithms that deduce the emotional state of an individual from their speech utterances. The methods are deployed in a wide range of tasks, including the detection and intervention of mental disorders. State-of-the art ASER techniques have evolved from the more conventional ML based methods to the current advanced deep neural network based solutions. Despite the long history of research contributions in this domain, state-of-art methods still struggle to generalize across languages, between corpora with different recording conditions, etc. Furthermore, most of the methods lack in interpretation and transparency of the models and their decision making process. These aspects are especially crucial when the methods are deployed in applications with impact on human lives.
Contribution
Autoencoders and latent representation studies are useful tools in the exploration of interpretable and generalizable models. We present results on the benefits of using autoencoders and its variants for ASER, predominantly on emotional states like anger, sadness, happiness and the neutral state. We show that the clusters in the latent space are representative of the desired emotional clusters, although some classes of emotions are more discriminative than others. We take a step further to illustrate the use of DeepLIFT to gain insights into the feature subsets that contribute to the discriminative clustering of emotion classes in the latent space. Furthermore, we study the robustness of the methods by investigating the differences that occur in the latent representations when the underlying data conditions are modified. In other words, how the differences in the language of the corpus, recording conditions of the corpus~(acted, `in the wild') manifest in the latent space. In addition, we explore the discrete and continuous scales for their appropriateness in modelling speech emotions and their correspondence to each other
Electroconvulsive Therapy in Children and Adolescents
No full textThere is a lack of studies regarding the efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in children and adolescents. In this study, we aimed to assess benefits and harms of ECT in children and adolescents with major psychiatric diseases. We conducted a systematic search in PubMed, EMBASE, and PsycINFO for peer-reviewed articles written in English regarding the use of ECT as treatment for major psychiatric diseases in children and adolescents. This study consists of 192 articles, mostly case studies (n = 50), reviews and overview articles (n = 52), and retrospective studies (n = 30). We present an overview of evidence for ECT in children and adolescents with mood disorders, catatonia, schizophrenia, intellectual disability, self-injurious behavior, and other indications. This article is also a summary of international guidelines regarding the use of ECT in children and adolescents. We evaluated the overall quality of evidence by using Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations and found the overall level of evidence to be of low quality. There are no absolute contra indications for ECT in children and adolescents. Fears regarding cognitive dysfunction have not been reproduced in studies. Electroconvulsive therapy should be considered in severe, treatment-resistant mood disorders, catatonia, and schizophrenia, especially in older adolescents. High-quality studies are warranted to assess the efficacy of ECT, especially in these potentially life-threatening diseases.</p
[Schizophrenia in children and adolescents. The Danish Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry]
No full textCurrent treatment options in early-onset psychosis
No full textThe recommended treatment for psychosis in adolescents is antipsychotic medication combined with psychosocial interventions. However, the evidence base for especially psychosocial interventions is limited. Compared to adults, fewer antipsychotic medications have been approved for use in youth, who also have a higher risk of a less beneficial response and more side effects. Second-generation antipsychotics are recommended as the first pharmacological choice due to a lower risk of neuromotor and cardiac side effects compared to first-generation antipsychotics. Nevertheless, most second-generation antipsychotics show metabolic side effects. It is recommended that the psychosocial treatment should be managed by a multidisciplinary team working within a specialized early intervention model with focus on: (1) individual and family resources and resilience; (2) individualizing and adjusting the intervention; (3) managing associated comorbidities; (4) ensuring coherence in treatment course and collaborations with social and educational services.</p
Sleep disorders in children and adolescents
No full textSleep disorders are common among Danish children and adolescents, particularly those with neurodevelopmental disabilities, as argued in this review. We outline three stages of treatment: sleep hygiene and 14 days of sleep registration; testing of weighted blankets; pharmacologically with melatonin, which for most children and adolescents only can be prescribed off-label, since melatonin only is approved on a very narrow indication, and this treatment should be as short-term as possible.</p
A Wearable Artificial Intelligence Feedback Tool (Wrist Angel) for Treatment and Research of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Pilot Study
No full textBackground: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in youth is characterized by behaviors, emotions, physiological reactions, and family interaction patterns. An essential component of therapy involves increasing awareness of the links among thoughts, emotions, behaviors, bodily sensations, and family interactions. An automatic assessment tool using physiological signals from a wearable biosensor may enable continuous symptom monitoring inside and outside of the clinic and support cognitive behavioral therapy for OCD. Objective: The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of using a wearable biosensor to monitor OCD symptoms. The secondary aim is to explore the feasibility of developing clinical and research tools that can detect and predict OCD-relevant internal states and interpersonal processes with the use of speech and behavioral signals. Methods: Eligibility criteria for the study include children and adolescents between 8 and 17 years of age diagnosed with OCD, controls with no psychiatric diagnoses, and one parent of the participating youths. Youths and parents wear biosensors on their wrists that measure pulse, electrodermal activity, skin temperature, and acceleration. Patients and their parents mark OCD episodes, while control youths and their parents mark youth fear episodes. Continuous, in-the-wild data collection will last for 8 weeks. Controlled experiments designed to link physiological, speech, behavioral, and biochemical signals to mental states are performed at baseline and after 8 weeks. Interpersonal interactions in the experiments are filmed and coded for behavior. The films are also processed with computer vision and for speech signals. Participants complete clinical interviews and questionnaires at baseline, and at weeks 4, 7, and 8. Feasibility criteria were set for recruitment, retention, biosensor functionality and acceptability, adherence to wearing the biosensor, and safety related to the biosensor. As a first step in learning the associations between signals and OCD-related parameters, we will use paired t tests and mixed effects models with repeated measures to assess associations between oxytocin, individual biosignal features, and outcomes such as stress-rest and case-control comparisons. Results: The first participant was enrolled on December 3, 2021, and recruitment closed on December 31, 2022. Nine patient dyads and nine control dyads were recruited. Sixteen participating dyads completed follow-up assessments. Conclusions: The results of this study will provide preliminary evidence for the extent to which a wearable biosensor that collects physiological signals can be used to monitor OCD severity and events in youths. If we find the study to be feasible, further studies will be conducted to integrate biosensor signals output into machine learning algorithms that can provide patients, parents, and therapists with actionable insights into OCD symptoms and treatment progress. Future definitive studies will be tasked with testing the accuracy of machine learning models to detect and predict OCD episodes and classify clinical severity.
Customizing Methodological Approaches in Qualitative Research on Vulnerable Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Get PDFChildren with autism spectrum disorders often suffer from poor school inclusion, loneliness, and poor quality of life. Suitable support options for overcoming these risks are lacking, partly because children’s perspectives concerning their support needs are unknown. We need to improve the involvement of children in social research. However, involving children with autism in research is not always simple, and there is scant literature on qualitative methods for addressing challenges related to involving children with unique characteristics such as autism. Children with autism may lack mimetic expressions to reflect their feelings, and they may answer questions very briefly despite having a nuanced perspective on the issue addressed, thus leaving the researcher with few indicators to act upon. Consequently, it can be difficult for the researcher to “read” the child, assess ethical important moments, and adapt the methodology to the individual child. Based on a qualitative study of 22 children with autism in the capital region of Denmark, this article offers reflections on methodological and practical challenges in involving children with autism in research. Matching expectations between researcher and child, staying open to communication forms, and posing precise questions are shown to be important to have insight into the children’s perspectives
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