Abstract
ABSTRACTObjective: to develop a mobile app for research on the use of tobacco among psychiatric patients and the general population. Method: applied research with the technological development of an app for data collection on an Android tablet. For its development, we considered three criteria: data security, benefits for participants and optimization of the time of researchers. We performed tests with twenty fictitious participants and a final test with six pilots. Results: the app collects data, stores them in the database of the tablet and export then to an Excel spreadsheet. Resources: calculator, stopwatch, offline operation, branching logic, field validation and automatic tabulation. Conclusion: the app prevents human error, increases the quality of the data by validating them during the interview, allows the performing of automatic tabulation and makes the interviews less tiring. Its success may encourage the use of this and other computational resources by nurses as a research tool.
Highlights
Research studies in mental health are essential for the planning of the care, the organization of health services, the development of public health policies and, the improvement of the quality of life of patients[1].Studies suggest that persons with mental disorders feel pleased to participate as volunteers in research studies, since they believe that they can help individuals who go through experiences similar to them, and bring benefits to themselves . [1,2]On the other hand, psychiatric patients may present difficulties because of changes in mental, status such as anhedonia, inattention, difficulty with memory, lack of concentration, anxiety, among others
The MCAPI has a particular importance because the anxiety of the respondent is added to the particular difficulties of other changes in mental state, specific to mental disorders
Faced with the need to interview psychiatric patients and the general population for a crosssectional epidemiological study on smoking, with a large number of variables, we considered the possibility of computerizing the questionnaires, in view of its benefits for research participants and for the quality of the data
Summary
Research studies in mental health are essential for the planning of the care, the organization of health services, the development of public health policies and, the improvement of the quality of life of patients[1].Studies suggest that persons with mental disorders feel pleased to participate as volunteers in research studies, since they believe that they can help individuals who go through experiences similar to them, and bring benefits to themselves (therapeutic effect of disclosing their experiences) . [1,2]On the other hand, psychiatric patients may present difficulties because of changes in mental, status such as anhedonia, inattention, difficulty with memory, lack of concentration, anxiety, among others. After an interview on suicide, seventy-nine schizophrenic individuals reported their experiences as participants of the research They complained they had experienced anxiety, fatigue, difficulty with memory, stress, restlessness and nervousness[1]. By transferring the attention to the digital questionnaire, the respondent is no longer the main focus, what helps him or her cope with the situation This highlights the usefulness of MCAPI for all groups of the population and its importance in the different areas of research. It is believed that digital questionnaires, by allowing more interaction during the interview, can stimulate psychiatric patients who feel unmotivated to participate in research and promote the quality of the answers by increasing the attention/concentration and decreasing anxiety and weariness
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