Wearables That Signal Stress: A Scoping Review of Biocueing and Biofeedback
Method Stream: Literature Review
ECs: Only 14 EC (standard, no new/own data collection. Applicable in case of a clinical internship)
Description:
Wearables can alert people to rising bodily arousal in daily life (biocueing) or guide regulation exercises (ambulatory biofeedback), aiming to strengthen emotion regulation. A 2021 review (ter Harmsel et al.) found 30 studies, of which only 4 on biocueing and 9 in psychiatric samples. Since then, smartwatches with stress notifications and just-in-time interventions have grown rapidly.
In this scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) you map the studies published since 2020, building on the search strategy of the original review: which populations, outcomes and user experiences have been studied, and where the gaps are.
Example research questions
1. How has the field developed since 2020, and in which (psychiatric) populations?
2. How acceptable and understandable do users find biocues?
3. Effects on what outcome variables are reported? (e.g.emotion regulation, anxiety symptoms, interoception)
Who are we looking for?
Students interested in clinical psychology, e-mental health and emotion regulation.
What do we offer?
An established search strategy to build on, embedding in an active research line on biocueing, and a possible publication.