Smart Sensory Technology in Psychotherapy for Pediatric OCD

Summary

Telemedicine interventions enable the improvement of behavioral state-of-the-art treatment of OCD, as therapy can be delivered in the patients' immediate home environment, allowing for more valid symptom actualization. In addition, access to experts is made possible even in rural areas, and the inhibition to seek therapy can be reduced. In a preliminary study, our research group was able to demonstrate the efficiency of using telemedical access. SSTeP-KiZ aims at the further development of telemedical treatment of children with OCD by using sensor technology in the home setting, where most symptoms occur. In this context, relevant emotional states of the patients such as anxiety and stress reactions shall be quantified reliably during the therapy session with exposures by combining different sensor modalities. As a result, the therapy procedure can be immediately and individually adapted to the patient and the situation, thus optimizing the success of the treatment.

Methods: It is planned to establish the therapy system on a sample of 10 healthy children and 5-10 patients with OCD treated at University Hospital of Tübingen. Afterwards we will recruit 26 children with obsessive-compulsive disorder aged 12-18 years to conduct therapy with them. There are 14 weekly therapy sessions via teleconferencing with the children and parents. During the sessions and exposures, patients' field of view is recorded via eye trackers, measures of stress responses via heart rate and pupillometry, and movement measures for approach-avoidance behaviors. Using an AI approach, these indicators are integrated and reported back to the therapist online to optimize the therapy process. Accompanying app-based daily symptoms will also be collected by the children and parents and processed for use in the therapy process. We expect a good feasibility and significant symptom reduction by this therapeutic approach and the chance to make this system usable for broad clinical application.

Conditions

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Online-based Cognitive-behavioral Therapy for OCD

26 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) receive treatment with cognitive-behavioral therapy. 14 sessions will take place via the internet.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universität Tübingen

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Hohenheim

  collaborator OTHER

• University Hospital Tuebingen

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Annette Conzelmann, Prof. · University Hospital Tübingen

• Tobias J Renner, Prof. · University Hospital Tübingen

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-08-01

Primary Completion

2023-03-31

Completion

2023-03-31

Countries

• Germany

Study Locations