Smart wearables are increasingly used to help people deal with stress. Still, a less explored area of research in this field concerns the partnerships that smart wearables can take on when engaging people in stress-coping activities. To facilitate further understanding of the human-wearable partnerships, we designed Grippy, a smart wearable system composed of a physical glove and a smartphone application to help the wearer actively explore and cope with stress in daily situations. We introduced Grippy, as a speculative probe, to six participants (four master students and two university employees) who wore it for five successive days. Participants were interviewed about their use experience of Grippy during and after these five days. Qualitative data collected from the interviews was interpreted regarding how Grippy could fit into people’s stress-coping activities across different daily contexts and what kinds of partnerships with the smart wearable were perceived by the participants. In addition, we reflect on the design issues that led to the mismatch between our design intentions and people’s actual use experiences. We discuss how these results have deepened our understanding of human-wearable partnerships in the context of stress management and the usability issues that might hinder the expression and acceptance of smart wearables designed as partners. We end the discussion by reflecting on the implications of smart wearables as partners in mental healthcare.

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The current study explores whether different stressors in a virtual reality (VR) military training scenario cause increases in physiological stress. This would validate the use of VR simulation for stress training, as well as the physiological monitoring of trainees for educational purposes. Military cadets (n = 63) performed a patrol scenario (military convoy) in which they answered questions about their surroundings. Stressors (task difficulty, noise, lighting changes, social evaluations, electric muscle stimulation, and a simulated attack on the convoy) were stepwise added in four phases. Electrocardiogram, blood pressure, electrodermal activity, cortisol, and the cadets’ subjective threat/challenge appraisal were measured. We found that only the first phase caused a significant increase in physiological stress, as measured with heart rate, heart rate variability, and electrodermal activity. Physiological stress appeared to stay high in the second phase as well, but decreased to baseline level in the third and fourth phases, even though these phases were designed to be the most stressful. Cadets classified as threat responders based on physiological data (n = 3) scored significantly higher on subjective threat/challenge appraisal than those classified as challenge responders (n = 21). It seems that in the tested VR training scenario, the novelty of the scenario was the only effective stress stimuli, whereas the other implemented stressors did not cause a measurable physiological response. We conclude that if VR training scenarios are to be used for stress training, these should confront trainees with unpredictable but context-specific demands.@en

Introduction: Virtual reality (VR)-based interventions, wearable technology and text mining hold promising potential for advancing the way in which military and Veteran mental health conditions are diagnosed and treated. They have the ability to improve treatment protocol adherence, assist in the detection of mental health conditions, enhance resilience and increase a patient’s motivation to continue therapy. Methods: This article explores five cutting-edge research projects designed to leverage VR-based interventions, wearable technology, and text mining to improve military and Veteran mental health. A computer-animated virtual agent provides online coaching for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients in their own homes to enhance treatment compliance. A head-mounted display safely immerses PTSD patients in a virtual world to relive past experiences and associate them with new meanings. Gaming and simulation technology are tested as a way to improve resilience and performance in military members in deployment-related scenarios. Guidelines are developed for the creation of wearable assistive technology for military members and Veterans. Text mining is explored as a way to assist in the detection of PTSD. Results: VR-based therapy, gaming and simulation, wearable assistive and sensory technology, and text mining hold promise for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating military mental health conditions. Discussion: The five research projects presented have made promising contributions to the field of military and Veteran mental health, either by advancing diagnostic trajectories, contributing to therapy or enhancing the process by developing new approaches to delivering preventive or curative care.@en

We propose an approach to designing smart wearables that act as partners to help people cope with stress in daily life. Our approach contributes to the developing field of smart wearables by addressing how technological capabilities can be designed to establish partnerships that consider the person, the situation, and the appropriate type of support. As such, this study also contributes to healthcare by opening up novel technology-supported routes to stress treatment and care. We present the results of a phenomenological study conducted with three war veterans who suffer from chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. We describe how their experiences of dealing with their stress informed our design approach, and discuss the implications of these results on smart wearables and stress management in general. We conclude by reflecting on the limitations of this study and directions for future work.

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