Table 1.

Study details for the literature review

Study & country	EMA component/ intervention	Design	Age	N	Mental health status	Timing	Outcomes	Summary of results
Youth (7–24)
Reid et al. (2011) Australia	App-based EMA monitoring of various states, including mood. Used as an intervention	RCT	14–24	114	Sub-clinical, mild-moderate mental health concerns	IP	DASS ESA	Self-monitoring, via EMA, increased emotional self-awareness, but had no effects on depression
Kauer et al. (2012) Australia	App-based EMA monitoring of various states, including mood. Used as an intervention	Secondary analysis of Reid et al. (2011)	14–24	114	Sub-clinical, mild-moderate mental health concerns	IP	DASS ESA	Self-monitoring, via EMA, had an indirect effect on depressive symptoms via emotional self-awareness. The direct effect was not significant
De Vuyst et al. (2019) Belgium	App-based EMA mood monitoring. Used as an intervention	Pre-post	18–24	90	Non-clinical	UP	PHQ-9	EMA mood monitoring had no effect on affective experience or depressive symptoms
Silk et al. (2011) USA	EMA mood monitoring (phone calls). Used as a measurement tool in a treatment trial, to explore daily emotion dynamics	Quasi	7–17	79	Clinical (DSM-IV diagnosis of MDD required for inclusion into experimental group)	N/A	PANAS-C	Depressed participants reported more intense negative emotions, including greater sadness, anger, and nervousness, as well as a lower ratio of positive to negative affect
Forbes et al. (2012) USA	EMA mood monitoring (phone calls). Used as a measurement tool in a treatment trial, to predict response & course	Cross-sectional	8–16	66	Clinical (K-SADS-PL diagnosis of MDD required for inclusion)	N/A	PANAS-C	Higher negative affect and a lower ratio of positive to negative affect were related to a slower rate of decline of clinical severity during treatment
Sheets & Armey (2020) USA	App-based EMA mood monitoring. Used as a measurement tool, to explore daily emotion dynamics	Quasi	18–22	108	Clinical (DSM-IV diagnosis of MDD required for inclusion into experimental group)	N/A	Negative affect	Currently depressed youth reported greater average negative affect, and greater increases in negative affect to recent perceived stress, than the other two groups
Van Roekel et al. (2016) Study 1 Netherlands	App-based EMA mood monitoring. Used as a measurement tool, to explore daily emotion dynamics	Cross-sectional	13–16	284	Non-clinical	N/A	BSI-AV Positive affect	Depressive symptoms were related to lower mean positive affect and higher variability in positive affect regardless of sex
Yen et al. (2020) USA	EMA mood monitoring (text messages) delivered as part of FTF STEP	Pilot RCT	12–18	52	Clinical (psychiatric inpatients, admitted for suicide attempt or ideation)	T	mDES BDI-II	Parent ratings of depression were lower for youth in the intervention condition compared to the control at 3 months but not at 6 months post-treatment. No group differences for positive and negative emotions
Bai et al. (2020) USA	App-based EMA mood monitoring delivered as part of FTF mindfulness. Used as a measurement tool in a treatment trial	RCT	18–19	52	Non-clinical	UP	DISE Negative emotion	All participants reported more negative emotions when they experienced greater than usual levels of family stress, but the association was weaker for those in the mindfulness condition
Youth and Adults (13–69)
Bakker & Rickard (2018) Australia	App-based EMA mood monitoring. Used as an intervention	Pre-post	13–69	234	Broad community sample. Analyses by sub-clinical (≥ 15 on PHQ-9 or GAD-7; or > 10 on both) and non-clinical	UP	ESAS-R PHQ-9 App engagement scale	EMA engagement predicted decreases in depression. These effects were mediated by increases in emotional self-awareness, but only for the sub-clinical subset
Fitzpatrick et al. (2017) USA	App-based CBT with EMA mood monitoring	RCT	18–28	70	Sub-clinical (self-identified symptoms; 46% mod-severe or severe depression at baseline)	IP	PHQ-9 PANAS Qualitative reports of affective awareness	Intervention reduced depression symptoms and participants qualitatively reported a greater amount of affective awareness

EMA Component/Intervention—EMA = ecological momentary assessment, FTF = face-to-face, CBT = cognitive behavioural therapy, STEP = Skills to Enhance Positivity Program; Study Type—RCT = Randomised controlled trial; Mental Health Status—DSM-IV = Diagnostic Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, K-SADS-PL = Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia—Present and Lifetime Version, MDD = Major Depressive Disorder; Timing—Timing of the intervention, IP = Indicated Prevention, which involves individuals who have sub-clinical symptoms but do not meet criteria for a clinical disorder (can also be considered early intervention; UP = Universal Prevention, which involves all individuals in a population irrespective of risk or symptom levels; T = Treatment; Outcomes that are relevant for the current review—DASS = Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, ESA = Emotional Self-Awareness Scale, PHQ-9 = Patient Health Questionnaire-9, PANAS-C = Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children, BSI-AV = Brief Symptom Inventory-Adolescent Version, mDES = modified Differential Emotions Scale, BDI-II = Beck Depression Inventory, DISE = Daily Inventory of Stressful Events, ESAS-R = Emotional Self-awareness Scale Revised, PANAS = Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, GAD-7 = Generalised Anxiety Disorder 7