Biometric Advisory System to Analyze a User's Post-Disaster Stress Management

Abstract

This article describes in detail the developed Biometric Advisory System to Analyze a User's Post-Disaster Stress Management. The system is based on algorithms developed by the authors. The system was developed and fine-tuned in the course of the Android project. The authors based their Advisory System on the presumption that, by assigning a user post-disaster stress self-assessment and then looking for the interdependency with the user's biometric parameters (heart rate, blood pressure, pupil, skin conductance and humidity; body, forehead, nose, left and right cheek, chin, left palm and left middle finger temperatures, etc.) recorded at that time, it is possible to determine the link rather accurately. In other words, a user internally senses the actual rating of his/her personal post-disaster stress. Their existing experiences and intuition give users a rather accurate indication about their post-disaster stress. A sufficient number of studies have been performed worldwide and quite many systems have been developed that apply biometric technologies to establish different human states of stress. The global innovative aspects of the Biometric Advisory System, developed by the authors, are primarily that it determines the level and symptoms of the post-disaster stress, carrying out multivariant design of a disaster stress management life cycle (emergency response, recovery, prevention/mitigation and preparedness/readiness) and alternative recommendations applicable to a specific user (on ways to reduce post-disaster stress), performs a multiple criteria analysis of it and selects the ten most rational ones (disaster stress management life cycle and tips) for that user. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) is used as a self-assessment instrument to determine the symptoms of post-disaster stress stress and to draw up recommendations. Also, the users were assessed with the IES-R in order to define the significance of posttraumatic stress symptoms.