Wearables for Stress Management: A Scoping Review

Abstract

In recent years, wearable devices have been increasingly used to monitor people's health. This has helped healthcare professionals provide timely interventions to support their patients. In this study, we investigated how wearables help people manage stress. We conducted a scoping review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) standard to address this question. We searched studies in Scopus, IEEE Explore, and Pubmed databases. We included studies reporting user evaluations of wearable-based strategies, reporting their impact on health or usability outcomes. A total of 6259 studies were identified, of which 40 met the inclusion criteria. Based on our findings, we identified that 21 studies report using commercial wearable devices; the most common are smartwatches and smart bands. Thirty-one studies report significant stress reduction using different interventions and interaction modalities. Finally, we identified that the interventions are designed with the following aims: (1) to self-regulate during stress episodes, (2) to support self-regulation therapies for long-term goals, and (3) to provide stress awareness for prevention, consisting of people's ability to recall, recognize and understand their stress.

Keywords: interventions; smart garments; stress managing; wearables.

Figure 1

Study selection process.

Figure 2

Type of documents published between 2012 and 2022.

Figure 3

Form-factor of wearables devices used to measure physiological signals.

Figure 4

Wearable devices used to gather physiological signals.