Utilizing a wristband sensor to measure the stress level for people with dementia

Abstract

Stress is a common problem that affects most people with dementia and their caregivers. Stress symptoms for people with dementia are often measured by answering a checklist of questions by the clinical staff who work closely with the person with the dementia. This process requires a lot of effort with continuous observation of the person with dementia over the long term. This article investigates the effectiveness of using a straightforward method, based on a single wristband sensor to classify events of “Stressed” and “Not stressed” for people with dementia. The presented system calculates the stress level as an integer value from zero to five, providing clinical information of behavioral patterns to the clinical staff. Thirty staff members participated in this experiment, together with six residents suffering from dementia, from two nursing homes. The residents were equipped with the wristband sensor during the day, and the staff were writing observation notes during the experiment to serve as ground truth. Experimental evaluation showed relationships between staff observations and sensor analysis, while stress level thresholds adjusted to each individual can serve different scenarios.