Stress-Mentor

Stress Mentor communicates stress management methods in a fun way.

The APP was developed to present state-of-the-art best-in-class stress management methods, such as those commonly found in self-help books or audio CDs, as part of an interactive app. The APP is to be understood as a self-help tool and not suitable for the detection and treatment of diseases.

The APP provides the following stress management strategies:

Self-observation: In a diary can sleep (quality and quantity), sports (duration, stress, steps), diet (unsweetened, neutral drinks, alcohol, caffeine, fruits and vegetables), digestion, subjective perceived stress level, prevailing mood, as well as positive and negative events of the day are recorded and viewed in a long-term overview

Relaxation techniques: breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, visualization, pleasure training, muscle relaxation exercises

Cognition and time management: dealing with irrational thoughts, self-confidence training, planning, prioritizing

Knowledge transfer: Quiz exercises to consolidate what has been learned

Every week, a stress checklist is used to check physical (muscle tension, digestive problems, sleep problems, tension-related head, neck and back problems) and emotional stress indicators (anxiety, sadness, anger, stress at work and in private life). Based on this, the APP selects the order of stress management strategies.

Some of the instructions used were courtesy of Dr. L. John Mason (https://dstress.com, Stress Education Center) from the "Guide to Stress Reduction" translated from English into German.

The service life is designed for 12 weeks (longer for non-daily use). Thereafter, the USER should use the learned strategies independently, without the APP is needed. However, it can still be used as a reference book.

To support the regular use of the APP, playful elements have been included, e.g. the choice of daily exercises (a total of 77 different tasks), items that can be exchanged for virtual items, a bird-like mythical creature that reflects the USER's diary entries, a camera feature that captures the evolution of the fable, and a wise owl that captures the user with tips around the APP use and the topic stress supports.

The APP was developed at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern by the wearHEALTH Working Group (funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, license plate number: 16SV7115). The concept of the APP focuses on linking findings from behavioral theory, stress research and gamification (Christmann et al., 2017,2018,2019).