The PsyMate™ is an integrated platform (app, database and reporting module) that uses the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to gain insight into people’s daily life functioning. It enables the mapping of thoughts, feelings, experiences and behavior. Research shows that monitoring of somatic symptoms and psychological complaints helps people to reclaim control of their life.
The PsyMate™ app works on Android- as well as iOS operating systems. Users receive a signal with a questionnaire at random times throughout the day. After completing a dozen questionnaires, it becomes possible to make connections, for example to see how the environment or daily activities influence feelings. The online PsyMate™ reporting module visualizes the collected data into graphs and schemes.
Everyone can download the app and start with our basic module, or develop a specific (payed) protocol that fits with research or care practices (both somatic- as well as mental health care). Each option is explained in more detail below.
Start with the PsyMate™ yourself
Do you want to get control over your feelings? Or work on recovery? That is possible! You can start immediately with the basic module that is free of charge and developed together with end-users to answer most needs.
Your individual PsyMate™ data remains strictly personal. If you want, you can choose yourself to share your results with your doctor or psychologist (or friends and family). You can find more information here.
After registration into the basic module, the app provides a signal at random moments throughout the day to complete a questionnaire. Items include how you feel, what you do, where, and with whom you are at that moment. After a period of data gathering, results can be viewed via the online reporting module. Here you can discover where and how you spend most of your time and find out how feelings vary across the day. You can learn under which circumstances you are feeling worse or better. This knowledge provides clues for rearranging your daily routine. It can also help to learn whether the chosen intervention works.
The collected data are strictly personal. Users can examine the PsyMate™ results or choose to discuss the findings with a health care professional, family member or friend
The PsyMate™ in my health care practice
Health care professionals are always searching for ways to help patients as best as possible. How patients experience their daily life is important. The PsyMate™ enables insight into the patient’s daily life functioning and can be a valuable addition to your treatment.
The PsyMate™ can be custom programmed. We have developed solutions for people suffering from anxiety after heart failure or pain after surgery, for people who want to monitor their depression, or to guide medication tapering. PsyMate™ data are reliable self-observations that help refine treatment processes. Patients are stimulated to express their experiences throughout the day and encouraged to co-develop a personal treatment plan. They become empowered and gain control over their life. Patients actively work on their recovery process, even outside the consultation room.
The use of the PsyMate™ is simple, practical, and time efficient. Completing a questionnaire takes up to 2 minutes per beep and is not experienced as burdensome. The individual PsyMate™ data are strictly personal. You can discuss the results together in consultation with your patient.
Are you interested in using the PsyMate™? Do not hesitate to contact us. Together, we can discuss the best implementation for your health care practice.
The PsyMate™ app and the PsyRes™ cloud base databases are designed to collect and store your mental state experiences and context at different moments in time.
The software allows you to review your answers in a browser window. This only reflects your data in a visual format. It offers no conclusions or diagnoses. You can explore your personal data yourself or invite your clinician and/or peers.
You can donate your data for statistical analyses. For this, you have to consent explicitly. Without this consent, no data will be provided.
The PsyMate™ in my research
The questionnaires and study design can be adapted to the research questions by our team. The user data are automatically sent to a database when a participant is connected to the internet. They are immediately available for online inspection and exports of the data can be downloaded in different formats. The individual PsyMate™ data remain anonymous and will never be shared with third parties. The PsyMate™ can also be used as a monitoring tool for longer time periods and is less intensive for users than a pen-and-paper method.
Are you a researcher? And are you interested in the behavior, feelings, thoughts and experiences of individuals? Do you want to better understand how these change over time under varying circumstances? Experience sampling is a reliable and useful structured diary method that provides insight into the individual’s daily life functioning. The PsyMate™ is an experience-sampling tool that can be programmed to your needs in different languages. The platform (app, database and reporting module) suits large (international) multi-site studies as well as N=1 studies. The PsyMate™ has been used to study the influence of medication, stress or pain on daily life functioning to the satisfaction of researchers in more than 100 studies.
Are you interested in using the PsyMate™? Do not hesitate to contact us. Our team can support you to implement the PsyMate™ successfully in your research.