Inducing and Recording Acute Stress Responses on a Large Scale With the Digital Stress Test (DST): Development and Evaluation Study
BackgroundValuable insights into the pathophysiology and consequences of acute psychosocial stress have been gained using standardized stress induction experiments. However, most protocols are limited to laboratory settings, are labor-intensive, and cannot be scaled to larger...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| Online Access: | https://www.jmir.org/2022/7/e32280 |
| _version_ | 1797734902264758272 |
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| author | Matthias Norden Amin Gerard Hofmann Martin Meier Felix Balzer Oliver T Wolf Erwin Böttinger Hanna Drimalla |
| author_facet | Matthias Norden Amin Gerard Hofmann Martin Meier Felix Balzer Oliver T Wolf Erwin Böttinger Hanna Drimalla |
| author_sort | Matthias Norden |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundValuable insights into the pathophysiology and consequences of acute psychosocial stress have been gained using standardized stress induction experiments. However, most protocols are limited to laboratory settings, are labor-intensive, and cannot be scaled to larger cohorts or transferred to daily life scenarios.
ObjectiveWe aimed to provide a scalable digital tool that enables the standardized induction and recording of acute stress responses in outside-the-laboratory settings without any experimenter contact.
MethodsOn the basis of well-described stress protocols, we developed the Digital Stress Test (DST) and evaluated its feasibility and stress induction potential in a large web-based study. A total of 284 participants completed either the DST (n=103; 52/103, 50.5% women; mean age 31.34, SD 9.48 years) or an adapted control version (n=181; 96/181, 53% women; mean age 31.51, SD 11.18 years) with their smartphones via a web application. We compared their affective responses using the international Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form before and after stress induction. In addition, we assessed the participants’ stress-related feelings indicated in visual analogue scales before, during, and after the procedure, and further analyzed the implemented stress-inducing elements. Finally, we compared the DST participants’ stress reactivity with the results obtained in a classic stress test paradigm using data previously collected in 4 independent Trier Social Stress Test studies including 122 participants overall.
ResultsParticipants in the DST manifested significantly higher perceived stress indexes than the Control-DST participants at all measurements after the baseline (P<.001). Furthermore, the effect size of the increase in DST participants’ negative affect (d=0.427) lay within the range of effect sizes for the increase in negative affect in the previously conducted Trier Social Stress Test experiments (0.281-1.015).
ConclusionsWe present evidence that a digital stress paradigm administered by smartphone can be used for standardized stress induction and multimodal data collection on a large scale. Further development of the DST prototype and a subsequent validation study including physiological markers are outlined. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:50:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0f2a2a88087c41cfba423f01cc3edfaa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1438-8871 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:50:11Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-0f2a2a88087c41cfba423f01cc3edfaa2023-08-28T22:43:46ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712022-07-01247e3228010.2196/32280Inducing and Recording Acute Stress Responses on a Large Scale With the Digital Stress Test (DST): Development and Evaluation StudyMatthias Nordenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2377-524XAmin Gerard Hofmannhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4182-0382Martin Meierhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8428-0326Felix Balzerhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1575-2056Oliver T Wolfhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9320-2124Erwin Böttingerhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6868-6676Hanna Drimallahttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3783-7237 BackgroundValuable insights into the pathophysiology and consequences of acute psychosocial stress have been gained using standardized stress induction experiments. However, most protocols are limited to laboratory settings, are labor-intensive, and cannot be scaled to larger cohorts or transferred to daily life scenarios. ObjectiveWe aimed to provide a scalable digital tool that enables the standardized induction and recording of acute stress responses in outside-the-laboratory settings without any experimenter contact. MethodsOn the basis of well-described stress protocols, we developed the Digital Stress Test (DST) and evaluated its feasibility and stress induction potential in a large web-based study. A total of 284 participants completed either the DST (n=103; 52/103, 50.5% women; mean age 31.34, SD 9.48 years) or an adapted control version (n=181; 96/181, 53% women; mean age 31.51, SD 11.18 years) with their smartphones via a web application. We compared their affective responses using the international Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form before and after stress induction. In addition, we assessed the participants’ stress-related feelings indicated in visual analogue scales before, during, and after the procedure, and further analyzed the implemented stress-inducing elements. Finally, we compared the DST participants’ stress reactivity with the results obtained in a classic stress test paradigm using data previously collected in 4 independent Trier Social Stress Test studies including 122 participants overall. ResultsParticipants in the DST manifested significantly higher perceived stress indexes than the Control-DST participants at all measurements after the baseline (P<.001). Furthermore, the effect size of the increase in DST participants’ negative affect (d=0.427) lay within the range of effect sizes for the increase in negative affect in the previously conducted Trier Social Stress Test experiments (0.281-1.015). ConclusionsWe present evidence that a digital stress paradigm administered by smartphone can be used for standardized stress induction and multimodal data collection on a large scale. Further development of the DST prototype and a subsequent validation study including physiological markers are outlined.https://www.jmir.org/2022/7/e32280 |
| spellingShingle | Matthias Norden Amin Gerard Hofmann Martin Meier Felix Balzer Oliver T Wolf Erwin Böttinger Hanna Drimalla Inducing and Recording Acute Stress Responses on a Large Scale With the Digital Stress Test (DST): Development and Evaluation Study Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| title | Inducing and Recording Acute Stress Responses on a Large Scale With the Digital Stress Test (DST): Development and Evaluation Study |
| title_full | Inducing and Recording Acute Stress Responses on a Large Scale With the Digital Stress Test (DST): Development and Evaluation Study |
| title_fullStr | Inducing and Recording Acute Stress Responses on a Large Scale With the Digital Stress Test (DST): Development and Evaluation Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inducing and Recording Acute Stress Responses on a Large Scale With the Digital Stress Test (DST): Development and Evaluation Study |
| title_short | Inducing and Recording Acute Stress Responses on a Large Scale With the Digital Stress Test (DST): Development and Evaluation Study |
| title_sort | inducing and recording acute stress responses on a large scale with the digital stress test dst development and evaluation study |
| url | https://www.jmir.org/2022/7/e32280 |
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