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The following is a summary of “Early psychosis service user views on digital remote monitoring: a qualitative study,” published in the April 2025 issue of BMC Psychiatry by Trelfa et al. 

Current mental healthcare approaches face challenges with sporadic monitoring and symptom recall bias. Digital health technologies (DHTs) offer potential to improve care quality and clinical decision-making. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study on early psychosis service users’ experiences with the ClinTouch digital remote monitoring app. 

They conducted a qualitative framework analysis of interview data from 8 participants who took part in the Actissist proof-of-concept and subsequent randomized controlled trial studies to understand their experiences using the ClinTouch app. 

The results showed 4 key themes: awareness of mood and symptoms, acceptability of ClinTouch, improvements and recommendations, and integrating ClinTouch into clinical practice. Participants considered ClinTouch an acceptable and useful tool for monitoring symptoms, enhancing their awareness of mood and symptoms, and fostering self-reflection and understanding of their experiences. 

Investigators found that ClinTouch was acceptable for symptom monitoring, safe, and easy to use, with potential for integration into clinical care. They recommended future developments to include more refined item sets and personalized features. 

Source: bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-025-06859-4