How ESM can be Used to Measure Change

How ESM can be used to Measure Change
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How ESM can be used to Measure Change
The experience sampling method (ESM) entails a set of data gathering techniques that involve self-reporting of experiences, emotions, or behaviors in people’s natural environment. Indeed, it is also called the diary method, real-time data capture, event sampling, ecological momentary, and ambulatory assessment. ESM is a reliable procedure for reporting and studying different aspects of individuals’ feelings, experiences, and activities throughout the day. Notably, it does not only assesses people’s feelings and experiences but also links them to the time of the day, situations, surroundings, and other circumstances. Specifically, ESM is a good method to measure change.
The primary benefit of ESM is that it helps therapists and other health professionals to understand clients’ feelings, experiences, behaviors, and emotions when an event is ongoing. In particular, when using ESM, clients or participants are examined in their natural environment. In that light, therapists or researchers obtain accurate information about clients’ behaviors and feelings when subjected to different situations (Zirkel, Garcia, & Murphy, 2015). In other words, ESM enables researchers or health professionals to understand individuals’ activities, actions, and thoughts without interrupting the participants’ daily lives. As such, therapists can use ESM to measure whether their clients are changing for the better after a behavioral therapy. For example, if the clients are adhering to established behavioral procedures outlined by their therapists and are improving their behaviors, it means that they are changing for the better.
ESM gives clients an opportunity to record their feelings or emotions based on various situations that they encounter. For this reason, people are more honest with themselves when they are recording how they feel while in their natural environment (Verhagen, Hasmi, Drukker, Os, & Delespaul, 2016). For instance, if a client records things that he or she is feeling toward a particular treatment while at home, there is a high chan...