Essay Example on Wearable Sensors, Biometric Motion and Environmental Sensors

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Schizophrenia Schizoaffective Disorder major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder are some chronic psychiatric disorders which cause disability all over the world and possess the 11th 2nd and 17th places on the list of universal causes of disability Naslund et al 2015 Rohatagy et al 2016 Batra et al 2017 Therefore people who safer from these disorders have reduced functioning levels and need daily care and long termed treatment Naslund et al 2015 Batra et al 2017 Furthermore they have to confront not only health problems but also social and economic problems which lead to inferior quality of life Naslund et al 2015 Cella et al 2017 Personalized psychiatry approach based on digital health technologies DHTs is a possible way to overcome some of the aforementioned difficulties and make a better care system for people with psychiatric disorders These technologies have given opportunities to understand in more detail mental illnesses and make better the outcomes for patients in many ways Batra et al 2017 Penna et al 2017 Diagnosis treatment decisions and opportune interventions before crisis outbreak are now possible through real time obtained information Batra et al 2017 Promising DHTs in the field of psychiatry are the interactive wearable devices Coffey Coffey 2016 Malhi et al 2017 In general there exist three types of wearable sensors biometric motion and environmental sensors Biometric sensors can record heart rate respiration blood pressure oximetry galvanic skin response muscle activation temperature and the levels of hydration

On the other hand are motion sensors like gyroscopes accelerometers and magnetometers which detect inertia There exist several parts of the body where sensors can be positioned depending on the information they provide and the number of sensors the user is eager to accept The most common places are wrist and waist because the majority of the people are accustomed to wearing watches or belts in their daily life King et al 2017 Other ideal places are the chest the thigh the ankle and the face and due to the innovative fabrication practices which generate flexible electronics sensors can be embedded into clothing and shoes Coffey Coffey 2016 King et al 2017 Regardless of their type and their position wearable devices have to be non invasive and trustworthy Also users should be able to handle them instinctively and get relevant feedbacks Additionally these devices should take into account needs like cognitive capacity or deftness of the wearers King et al 2017 Notably scientists should pay attention to the type of wearable devices they give to psychiatric patients due to the unique nature of psychiatric disorders Cella et al 2017 These devices apart from high quality and accuracy they have to fulfill some other criteria Cella et al 2017 Kleiman Nock 2017 For example they should not interrupt patients life and keep them away from their daily activities In addition the devices have to be discreet and make people who wear them to feel comfortable when they communicate with others Cella et al 2017 Moreover they should be attractive and have user friendly features Kleiman Nock 2017 Last but not least these devices have to be constructed in a way that is easy for a patient not to forget to wear them Cella et al 2017 In psychiatry the most useful wearable devices are those which monitor the warning behavioral and physiological signs of the user Coffey Coffey 2016 Malhi et al 2017

More specifically these devices do unbiased measurements of mood activity arousal or sleep extent and quality thereby enhancing users self report information inputs Coffey Coffey 2016 Kleiman Nock 2017 Malhi et al 2017 In addition information gathered from wearable sensors can generate an impartial measurement of emotional responding throughout the day without enforcing patients to state their emotions This state is vital because patients aren t all the time able to diagnose and report their motions or stress Kleiman Nock 2017 Furthermore these devices can be incorporated in diurnal personal care as they can warn psychiatric patients to take their medication properly and manage their psychological problems as well as to do some physical exercise Malhi et al 2017 Here are some examples of wearable devices that are involved in the personalized care of psychiatric patients In contrast with people who suffer from other diseases people with psychiatric disorders can t accept wearing big sensors on their skin Additionally these sensors may affect the mood of the patients resulting in biased collected data Thus for those people wearable devices should be minimally designed and either have all sensors embedded in a device or introduce as many sensors as possible in the wearable devices they use every day Puiatti et al 2011 A wearable system called MONARCA combines these two approaches in order to monitor physiological and emotional states as well as stress levels and treat patients with bipolar disorder MONARCAs core is a smartphone which performs the most significant sensing part and is accompanied by a sensor of activity worn on the wrist a smart sock that can give data about patients arousal levels by measuring the electrodermal activity through patients feet monitors and an encephalogram EEG system which performs periodic measurements Puiatti et al 2011 Malhi et al 2017 Penna et al 2017 It can recognize early warning signs so as to predict and prevent on time a manic or a depressive episode and regulate patients therapy Puiatti et al 2011

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