Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering, College of Information Technology, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021 Apr 22;9(4):e26038. doi: 10.2196/26038.
Connected mental health, which refers to the use of technology for mental health care and technology-based therapeutic solutions, has become an established field of research. Biofeedback is one of the approaches used in connected mental health solutions, which is mainly based on the analysis of physiological indicators for the assessment and management of the psychological state. Biofeedback is recommended by many therapists and has been used for conditions including depression, insomnia, and anxiety. Anxiety is associated with several physiological symptoms, including muscle tension and breathing issues, which makes the inclusion of biofeedback useful for anxiety detection and management.
The aim of this study was to identify interventions using biofeedback as a part of their process for anxiety management and investigate their perceived effectiveness.
A systematic literature review of publications presenting empirically evaluated biofeedback-based interventions for anxiety was conducted. The systematic literature review was based on publications retrieved from IEEE Digital Library, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus. A preliminary selection of papers was identified, examined, and filtered to include only relevant publications. Studies in the final selection were classified and analyzed to extract the modalities of use of biofeedback in the identified interventions, the types of physiological data that were collected and analyzed and the sensors used to collect them. Processes and outcomes of the empirical evaluations were also extracted.
After final selection, 13 publications presenting different interventions were investigated. The interventions addressed either primarily anxiety disorders or anxiety associated with health issues such as migraine, Parkinson disease, and rheumatology. Solutions combined biofeedback with other techniques including virtual reality, music therapy, games, and relaxation practices and used different sensors including cardiovascular belts, wrist sensors, or stretch sensors to collect physiological data such as heart rate, respiration indicators, and movement information. The interventions targeted different cohorts including children, students, and patients. Overall, outcomes from the empirical evaluations yielded positive results and emphasized the effectiveness of connected mental health solutions using biofeedback for anxiety; however, certain unfavorable outcomes, such as interventions not having an effect on anxiety and patients' preferring traditional therapy, were reported in studies addressing patients with specific physical health issues.
The use of biofeedback in connected mental health interventions for the treatment and management of anxiety allows better screening and understanding of both psychological and physiological patient information, as well as of the association between the two. The inclusion of biofeedback could improve the outcome of interventions and boost their effectiveness; however, when used with patients suffering from certain physical health issues, suitability investigations are needed.
连接心理健康，指的是使用技术进行心理健康护理和基于技术的治疗解决方案，已成为一个既定的研究领域。生物反馈是连接心理健康解决方案中使用的方法之一，主要基于对生理指标的分析，用于评估和管理心理状态。生物反馈已被许多治疗师推荐，并已用于包括抑郁、失眠和焦虑在内的多种病症。焦虑与许多生理症状相关，包括肌肉紧张和呼吸问题，这使得生物反馈的纳入对于焦虑的检测和管理非常有用。
本研究旨在确定将生物反馈作为其焦虑管理过程的一部分的干预措施，并调查其感知效果。
对发表的实证评估基于生物反馈的焦虑管理干预措施的文献进行了系统的文献综述。系统文献综述基于从 IEEE 数字图书馆、PubMed、ScienceDirect 和 Scopus 检索到的出版物。初步选择了论文进行识别、检查和筛选，只包括相关的出版物。对最终选择的研究进行分类和分析，以提取所确定干预措施中生物反馈使用的模式、收集和分析的生理数据类型以及用于收集这些数据的传感器。还提取了实证评估的过程和结果。
经过最终选择，研究了 13 篇提出不同干预措施的出版物。这些干预措施主要针对焦虑障碍，或与偏头痛、帕金森病和风湿病等健康问题相关的焦虑。解决方案将生物反馈与虚拟现实、音乐疗法、游戏和放松实践等其他技术相结合，并使用包括心血管带、手腕传感器或拉伸传感器在内的不同传感器来收集心率、呼吸指标和运动信息等生理数据。干预措施针对不同的人群，包括儿童、学生和患者。总体而言，实证评估的结果产生了积极的结果，并强调了使用生物反馈的连接心理健康解决方案治疗和管理焦虑的有效性；然而，在针对特定身体健康问题的患者的研究中，报告了一些不利的结果，例如干预对焦虑没有效果，以及患者更喜欢传统疗法。
在用于治疗和管理焦虑的连接心理健康干预措施中使用生物反馈，可以更好地筛选和理解患者的心理和生理信息，以及两者之间的关联。生物反馈的纳入可以改善干预措施的效果，并提高其有效性；然而，在与患有某些身体健康问题的患者一起使用时，需要进行适用性调查。
