Experience sampling in dementia: Feasibility, utility and methodological insights from a high-intensity smartphone-based study

Despite advances in dementia research, little is known about the subjective everyday experiences of people living with dementia. The experience sampling method (ESM), which involves repeated, real-time self-reports, has proven valuable for studying psychological experiences across various clinical populations. However, its feasibility and utility in dementia remain underexplored. This article explores the methodology, feasibility, and utility of a smartphone-based ESM study, developed with input from stakeholders with lived experience of dementia. Over a 10-day period, 12 participants with dementia responded to seven daily notifications assessing their current thoughts and affect, and they completed an end-of-day questionnaire on daily life satisfaction and meaning in life. Feasibility was evaluated based on participation and compliance rates, drop-out, completion times, and study participation subjective experiences (e.g., burden, motivation). Data utility was assessed by examining the between-person and within-person variance and intraclass correlation coefficients of the repeated measurements.The study achieved high compliance (80%) with no dropouts. Participants reported low burden and positive participation experiences. Data analysis showed considerable variability both within and between individuals in the momentary and daily measures, underscoring the potential of ESM to capture dynamic, real-time psychological experiences in dementia.Our study demonstrates that high-intensity smartphone-based ESM can be successfully implemented in targeted subgroups of people with dementia, providing a feasible and valuable method to examine their subjective daily experiences. These findings encourage future research to refine ESM methodologies for dementia populations, aiming to include larger and more diverse samples while exploring different ESM designs. Doing so may uncover new opportunities to better understand the lived experiences of people with dementia and develop tailored interventions to support their wellbeing.