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X. Li

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Designing smart wearables as partners in stress management

Doctoral thesis (2022) - X. Li
This thesis is motivated by the vision of designing smart wearables as partners for veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Everyday objects are becoming ‘smarter’ with the integration of computational and electronic technologies. It is now possible to start thinking of these objects as ‘intelligent agents’ that can form collaborative relationships to help us with issues that were hitherto impossible. Smart wearables show the potential to be designed as “partners” that are able to continuously monitor bodily and behavioural signals, to involve the human body as part of the interaction, and help the person whenever possible and in ways other products cannot. People with chronic PTSD, who face the challenge of constantly dealing with various everyday stressful situations, provide an interesting case to explore the concept of such partners. ...
Journal article (2020) - Eric Vermetten, Myrthe Tielman, Ewout van Dort, Olaf Binsch, Xueliang Li, Marco Rozendaal, Bernard Veldkamp, Gary Wynn, Rakesh Jetly
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. ...

Designing smart wearables as partners in stress management

Journal article (2020) - X. Li, Marco C. Rozendaal, Kaspar Jansen, Catholijn Jonker, Eric Vermetten
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. ...
Conference paper (2020) - X. Li, K.M.B. Jansen, X. Zhang, M.C. Rozendaal, C.M. Jonker
Stress is an important aspect of mental health which impacts on wellbeing. Wearable devices are increasingly used to help people deal with stress in daily life. However, most of the current applications focus on detecting and representing physiological data. In this paper we report on the design of an integrated wearable system composed of physiological sensors and a self-reporting interface. Through an iterative design process, we developed two prototypes and evaluated their technical performance in a laboratory condition. We elaborate on the issues we have encountered and addressed in the design iterations. We discuss how these lessons might contribute to the design of integrated sensing systems in real life. We end this paper by reviewing limitations of the study and directions for future work.Keywords: smart wearables, stress management, design for mental health ...
In this paper we investigate how autonomy, animism and presence of interactive products in daily life can positively influence people to change their behavior. Three interactive products were reviewed and compared on each of these three concepts. Based on this comparison we propose that a product's autonomy is a prerequisite to initiate behavior change when people are unwilling or unable to act, or are unware that action is possible, while animism creates a sense of social engagement between user and product. Presence refers to the availability and readiness of a product to engage people on a daily basis. We conclude with discussing the potentiality of these concepts in developing an integrated design strategy for behavior change. ...