Gemma García-Soriano

Objective: Mobile applications are a useful tool in the treatment of mental disorders due to their accessibility and scalability. This study analyzes the clinical utility, satisfaction, and usability of the GGOC-AD app, designed to target dysfunctional beliefs associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Method: A 17-year-old male adolescent with OCD in the relapse-prevention phase used the application for 14 days. Assessments were completed at baseline, post-intervention, and at one-month follow-up. Results: Findings showed a reduction in dysfunctional beliefs, particularly responsibility and overestimation of threat, along with positive ratings of satisfaction and usability. Conclusions: Results suggest that the application may be useful. Further research with larger samples is needed to evaluate its clinical utility in maintaining changes achieved through cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).RESUMENObjetivo: Las aplicaciones móviles son una herramienta útil en el tratamiento de trastornos mentales, destacando por su accesibilidad y escalabilidad. Este estudio analiza la utilidad clínica, satisfacción y usabilidad de la aplicación GGOC-AD, dirigida a abordar las creencias disfuncionales en el trastorno obsesivo compulsivo (TOC). Método: Un adolescente de 17 años con diagnóstico de TOC en fase de prevención de recaídas utilizó la aplicación durante 14 días, completando evaluaciones preintervención, posintervención y seguimiento a un mes. Resultados: Se observó una reducción en las creencias disfuncionales, especialmente en responsabilidad y sobreestimación de la amenaza, junto con una valoración positiva de la aplicación en cuanto a satisfacción y usabilidad. Conclusiones: Los resultados sugieren que la aplicación puede ser útil. Sería de interés realizar estudios controlados en muestras más amplias para evaluar su eficacia en el mantenimiento de los cambios obtenidos mediante la terapia cognitivo-conductual.

Adolescence is a critical period for developing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms, highlighting the need for preventive strategies. GGOC-AD is a newly adapted module for adolescents within the OCD.app mobile platform, aimed at addressing maladaptive beliefs. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, usability, and preliminary efficacy of GGOC-AD in the adolescent general population. A parallel two-arm pilot trial was conducted with 36 students (55.6% male; M_age = 16.25, SD = 0.5), of which 18 were assigned to the experimental group (using the GGOC-AD app, 14 days) and 18 to the control group (using the neutral GGN-AD app, 14 days). Participants from the experimental group were assessed after using the app for study feasibility, acceptability, and usability through self-reports and an ad-hoc interview. Furthermore, all participants were evaluated at baseline and post-intervention for OCD-related maladaptive beliefs, OC and emotional symptoms, and self-esteem. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed.The study concluded that the protocol used was feasible. Participants who used the GGOC-AD app rated it as both acceptable and usable. The preliminary efficacy results of GGOC-AD did not reveal a significant intervention effect on OC symptoms, maladaptive beliefs, emotional symptoms, or self-esteem. These findings provide valuable data for optimizing the study protocol and designing a future randomized controlled trial. This pilot study is an essential step given the critical role of usability and acceptability in driving engagement with mHealth interventions.

Aim: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition that significantly interferes with the school environment. The concealment of symptoms, lack of identification, and limited knowledge about the disorder often lead to delays in help-seeking, which are associated with greater chronicity, increased interference, and poorer treatment response. Programmes that educate teachers on early detection of OCD could help identify children at risk and promote help-seeking behavior. This study analyzed the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of the health app esTOCma from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives among teachers, as well as explored areas for improvement. Methods: A total of 19 teachers (mean age = 47.74 years, SD = 11.2) completed the intervention along with pre- and post-intervention assessments through the app. In addition, they responded to open-ended questions to share their opinions about the app. Results: Teachers took an average of 4.89 days (SD = 4.21) to complete the intervention. The app demonstrated excellent usability (M = 85.5, SD = 10.3) and was found useful by the majority of participants (89.5%), who reported satisfaction (84.2%) and stated they had learned considerably (73.7%) through its use. Upon completing the intervention, participants showed greater understanding of OCD and its treatments (MHLQ-R: z = –2.92, p = 0.004), lower levels of stigma (AQ-9: z = –3.67, p < 0.001), and a higher intention to seek professional help in case of experiencing obsessive-compulsive symptoms (GHSQ: z = –2.50, p = 0.012). Conclusions: esTOCma appears to be a feasible app in an educational context, showing high acceptability among participating teachers. Moreover, the app increases knowledge and understanding of OCD, promotes the intention to seek professional help, and reduces stigma toward the disorder. Several improvements are suggested to further enhance the app’s potential impact in educational settings.

Purpose: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disabling mental health condition associated with significant delays in professional help-seeking. Stigma and poor mental health literacy (MHL) contribute to these delays and vary depending on OCD symptom dimensions. This post hoc analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the mobile application esTOCma in reducing stigma and improving MHL and intention to seek help across autogenous and reactive OCD symptom dimensions. Methods: A post hoc analysis was conducted using pre- and post-intervention data from 208 participants from a previous crossover randomized controlled trial. Participants had been assigned to a vignette describing either autogenous or reactive OCD symptoms and to the experimental or control group. Changes in stigma (Attribution Questionnaire, Social Distance Scale), MHL (Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire), and help-seeking intention (General Help-Seeking Questionnaire) were assessed using a 2 (Group: experimental and control) × 2 (Time: T0 [pre-intervention] and T1 [post-intervention]) mixed factorial analyses of variance performed for each symptom dimension (i.e., autogenous and reactive OCD symptoms dimensions). Results: Following the intervention, significant and similar improvements in stigma, social distance, MHL, and help-seeking intention were observed in the experimental group for both OCD content dimensions. These differences were not observed in the control group. Conclusions: This post hoc study suggests that esTOCma is an effective tool for reducing stigma and misinformation about both autogenous and reactive OCD symptoms in the general community. The original study was registered on ClinicalsTrials.gov on January 11th, 2022 (NCT04777292).

Background: Obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disabling disorder, and self‐stigma negatively impacts quality of life, symptom severity and self‐esteem. esTOCma is a smartphone‐based serious game developed to increase knowledge about OCD and reduce stigma. It features 10 missions using psychoeducation, indirect contact and cognitive restructuring. Players help 10 characters escape the OCD stigma monster. Aims: To explore, in individuals with a self‐reported diagnosis of OCD, the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of esTOCma to change self‐stigma and knowledge about OCD, OC severity, guilt, quality of life and self‐esteem. Materials and Methods: A single‐arm pilot study with 130 participants who completed esTOCma and pre‐, post‐ and 3‐month follow‐up assessments. Results: Half of participants spent 9–10‐days playing with the app and most of them found it useful/very useful and easy to use. Self‐stigma was associated with higher OC symptoms, guilt and lower quality of life, self‐esteem and knowledge about OCD. After using the app, participants showed lower levels of self‐stigma, OC symptoms and guilt, and higher levels of quality of life, self‐esteem and knowledge about OCD. Changes were maintained or increased at a 3‐month follow‐up. Discussion: esTOCma is a feasible and acceptable app that could help people with OCD to increase their knowledge and understanding of the disorder, dismiss self‐stigma and OC symptoms, and at the same time increase self‐esteem and quality of life. A replication of the study with a control sample is needed to validate our findings. Conclusion: Tools like the esTOCma app, accessible 24/7, offer a means to tackle self‐stigma detrimental effects.

Background: Obsessive–compulsive (OC) disorder is a debilitating disorder with a high delay in help‐seeking that could be associated with two barriers that may differ between OC content dimensions: public stigma and mental health literacy.Objectives: We aim to describe and analyze the differences among OC content dimensions in public stigma, social distance desire, mental health literacy, and help‐seeking intention in a sample of the mental health‐naïve population.Methods: A total of 487 participants from the Spanish community with no previous knowledge of or experience with OCD were randomly allocated one of six vignettes describing a person with OC symptoms of one out of six contents (i.e., aggression/harm; sexual; religious/blasphemous/immoral; contamination/washing; doubts/checking; or superstition/symmetry/order). After reading the vignette, participants completed the following questionnaires associated with their vignette: Attribution Questionnaire, General Help‐Seeking Questionnaire, Social Distance Scale, and Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire.Results: There were significant differences among OC content dimensions on the variables of interest. Aggression/harm OC content was associated with the highest public stigma and discriminating desire, and together with the religious/blasphemous/immoral OC contents were associated with the highest social distance desire. Although no differences appear between contents on intention to seek for formal treatment, participants would request less informal support for their sexual OC content than for the other categories. Contamination, doubts/checking, and superstition/symmetry/order OC contents were more frequently identified as OCD, although only around 50% or less of the sample identified the sexual, superstition/symmetry/order, doubts/checking, and religious/blasphemous/immoral OC contents as a mental health problem.Conclusions: Interventions to reduce stigma and increase help seeking are necessary and should consider OC heterogeneity.

El estudio analizó la satisfacción y usabilidad de recursos socioemocionales en estudiantado universitarios de distintos grados académicos. Se dividieron en tres fases: evaluación inicial, implementación de recursos formativos (Serious Game, curso online de psicología positiva y píldoras de inteligencia emocional) y evaluación final. Se encontró que las píldoras de inteligencia emocional fueron las más populares y útiles, seguidas del Serious Game y el curso de Well-Being. Además, se notó que los recursos más difíciles de usar fueron percibidos como menos útiles para desarrollar competencias. El estudiantado de tecnología digital y multimedia mostraron menos utilidad percibida en el Serious Game en comparación con psicología y medicina. No hubo diferencias significativas en el curso de Well-Being entre diferentes carreras. Las píldoras de inteligencia emocional fueron más difíciles de usar para estudiantes de psicología en comparación con medicina. En general, el estudio destaca la importancia de la educación socioemocional en la universidad para mejorar el rendimiento académico y el bienestar personal, resaltando la necesidad de invertir en programas de educación socioemocional para desarrollar competencias transversales en los estudiantes universitarios