Progress in Ambulatory Assessment: Computer Assisted Psychological and Psychophysiological Methods in Monitoring and Field Studies

Edited by Jochen Fahrenberg and Michael Myrtek 2001 Seattle, Toronto, Bern and Gottingen: Hogrefe and Huber 627 pp hardcover ISBN 0-88937-225-X US$49.95 CAN$74.95 Euro49.95 SFr84.00 £32.45 During the 1950s, Holter and colleagues developed a number of portable recording devices which served to introduce the concept of `ambulatory monitoring'. Early devices were principally for cardiovascular monitoring, intended to allow patients' symptoms to be related to the underlying physiology. More recent devices, especially those based on portable computers, now allow various tests of cognitive and intellectual ability to be carried out on ambulatory subjects, and to relate performance in these tests to the physiological state. The book has its origins in a workshop on ambulatory assessment, which was held at the University of Freiburg, Germany, in 1999. Thirty-five chapters explore the use of computer assisted methods of ambulatory assessment, both as research tools and in applied settings. The perspective is largely a European one, with only a few of the 80 or so contributors from North America. The text is presented in two parts, the first dealing with psychological assessment and the second with more physiological aspects of the subject. While the second part of the book may be of greater interest to readers of this journal, the first part, dealing as it does with mental and emotional testing, may well provide more unfamiliar material. Here the first few chapters deal with posture and activity monitoring using accelerometry, and the influences these can have on other psychological variables. Several chapters follow this on aspects of blood pressure and heart rate monitoring. Several chapters then discuss monitoring of respiratory variables, particularly their role in the assessment of patients suffering from anxiety. Following chapters deal with monitoring in the workplace, in stressful situations such as working at night, as an air traffic controller, and flying an aircraft Towards the end of the book the emphasis is on developments in the technology that has made ambulatory monitoring possible. There is a review of recent recording devices, dealing principally with those that are commercially available. This is followed by a discussion on the transition from ambulatory assessment to telemedicine, reviewing the concepts and the problems to be overcome. The book concludes with an excellent overview of the historical development of ambulatory monitoring and assessment, written by one of the editors. The majority of chapters are supported by extensive bibliographies. In spite of the fact that the book is based on a meeting held in 1999, many chapters have been revised and updated to include references to papers published during 2000. Readers will find these bibliographies particularly useful as many of the papers cited are published in psychology journals which are not included in the popular medical databases.

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