Mobile Phone Ecological Momentary Assessment of Daily Stressors Among People Living With HIV: Elucidating Factors Underlying Health-Related Challenges in Daily Routines.
Shu Farmer, Deborah Mindry, W Scott Comulada and 1 others
PMID 28549526WHAT IT FOUND
People living with HIV reported daily stressors via smartphone, with financial difficulties rated as the most stressful events.
Health issues like medication adherence and depression were frequent, while memory problems and housing instability also caused significant strain.
Key findings
01Financial difficulties were rated as the most stressful events by participants who reported them, receiving the highest stress ratings compared to other themes.
02Health-related stressors were the most commonly reported theme, specifically involving medication adherence, retention in care, and mental health issues like depression.
03Participants reported memory difficulties and daily hassles linked to cognitive symptoms, which intersected with broader health and social stressors.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample size was small (32 participants) and mostly unemployed African American men, limiting generalizability to other populations. Participants self-selected which surveys to complete, meaning reported stressors may reflect the most salient or engaging topics rather than a complete picture. Attrition increased during the last two weeks, with only 40% of participants still providing data, potentially biasing the later findings. The study did not explicitly measure neurocognitive function or activities of daily living, so links between stress and cognitive decline are inferred from self-reported text logs rather than clinical assessment.
Declared interests
The study was approved by the UCLA Institutional Review Board. No specific funding sources or conflicts of interest are detailed in the provided text beyond the institutional affiliation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the smartphone application as a validated clinical tool for diagnosing cognitive impairment or stress disorders. The study was a pilot testing the feasibility of data collection, and the self-reported stressors were not correlated with objective clinical outcomes or standardized neurocognitive tests.