Sectie Psychologie, Gezondheid & Technologie

The effect of psychoeducation on the perception and use of ‘stress’ wearables.

Additional information

Type of assignment:             BSc. thesis

How many students?            2

Supervision:                          In (sub)groups

Includes data collection?      Yes

Type of research:                  Quantitative - experimental

Number of ECTS?                15 ECTS

Research assignment 
Health technology has seen a surge in the use of wearable devices that claim to monitor stress levels through heart rate variability (HRV). While these wearables present a novel approach to understanding our physiological responses to stress, their accuracy is not always good and the interpretation of their feedback remains up for debate in terms of long term (mental) health outcomes (Heiss et al., 2021). Many modern wearables transform HRV data, a complex and nuanced metric, into simplified stress indicators, often categorized into 'low' and 'high' zones. This oversimplification risks misinterpretation, potentially leading users to overestimate the severity of their stress responses, overlooking the healthy processes of allostasis (Epel et al., 2018). Allostasis refers to the body's process of achieving dynamic stability through constant physiological change. In other words, HRV is inevitably constantly changing substantially, and labelling certain levels as low or high or even good or bad might be misleading and cause unnecessary anxiety.

This study aims to explore how simple psychoeducation about HRV and stress can influence the perception and utility of these wearables. By equipping users with foundational knowledge about physiology and stress (Epel et al., 2018), you could hypothesize that they will engage and disengage with the wearables in a more informed and constructive manner, report lower subjective stress levels and find its use more enjoyable (Etkin, 2016).

The study will have a two-group experimental design: one group receiving a stress wearable without any additional information, and the other receiving both the wearable and psychoeducation about HRV and stress. Both groups will use the wearable for a day, and their subjective stress levels will be monitored at multiple times that day. Additionally, an exit survey will assess their experiences and perceptions of the use of the wearable.

Who do we look for? 
Students interested in stress physiology and technology as a tool to aid people in daily life to better recognize, understand and manage their stress levels.

References 
Epel, E. S., Crosswell, A. D., Mayer, S. E., Prather, A. A., Slavich, G. M., Puterman, E., & Mendes, W. B. (2018). More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science. Front Neuroendocrinol, 49, 146-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2018.03.001

Etkin, J. (2016). The Hidden Cost of Personal Quantification. Journal of Consumer Research, 42(6), 967-984. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucv095

Heiss, S., Vaschillo, B., Vaschillo, E. G., Timko, C. A., & Hormes, J. M. (2021). Heart rate variability as a biobehavioral marker of diverse psychopathologies: A review and argument for an "ideal range". Neurosci Biobehav Rev, 121, 144-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.12.004