Mobile Application and Biofeedback for Aiding Students who Suffer from Anxiety : Designing a mobile application that utilizes biofeedback to provide a better user experience

Abstract

Anxiety is a widespread issue among university students. Students with anxiety can experience detrimental consequences such as disruption of sleep, isolation, and deficient quality of life. There is a need for accessible mental wellness treatment options and mobile applications are a promising alternative to traditional therapy since not all students have access to a therapist. Thus, this thesis aimed to develop and test a demo wellness application that can aid students in managing their anxiety as well as evaluate the user experience of the students. As a pre-study, we interviewed three mental health professionals to obtain insights that could be useful in our design, as well as to understand their professional opinions about our ideas. Then, we designed and developed a functional demo application based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy principles. This application can be used in mobile as well as desktop browsers. The application has two versions: one that utilizes biofeedback and the other does not. The application contains a diary section in which the users can reflect on their day, a values section where the users can work on defining life values that can motivate them to live a more fulfilling life, and a section with videos of mindfulness meditations. Furthermore, the version of the application that uses biofeedback can connect to a wearable biofeedback device and send notifications to the users when their stress levels are high. In this manner, the users can use the application to help them calm down. To evaluate the application, we recruited 10 university students and divided them into two groups of 5, one user group for each version of the application. While the users utilized their corresponding version of the application their usage logs were recorded on the application’s database and later analyzed to measure their engagement. After they had used the application for three days, they were interviewed to understand their experience as a user. The usage logs data contained the number of videos watched, the number of diary entries created, and the number of value entries created. This data was later statistically analyzed to compare the engagement level of both user groups. The findings of this analysis suggest that the engagement of the users with biofeedback seems more constant and greater than the other group. The findings of the interviews regarding the users who utilized the biofeedback device revealed some concerns about the device’s size, among other insights. Furthermore, there were other results from the interviews of all the users regardless of their group. These results generated various findings related to the general user experience of the developed application. In summary, the users had a mostly pleasant experience, and it was implied that the application has the potential to impact the mental wellness of its users positively. Moreover, the users reported some necessary improvements for the application. Additionally, a list of design implications for similar applications was created with our gathered knowledge throughout the research process. These design implications could serve as a guide for future developers and researchers who are interested in exploring applications comparable to ours. The design implications include aspects related to improving the experience of the users while utilizing the biofeedback device as well as the interface of the application.