Stress Analysis Among University Students Using Psychometric Scale and Heart Rate Variability Approach

Abstract

Stress has become one of the major mental health problems in Malaysia. Most Malaysians underestimate and neglect this critical issue, not knowing what the consequences might be due to the lack of knowledge on stress analysis. Many researchers are trying to identify the causes and ways to overcome stress. With the help of advancing electronic systems engineering, primed heart rate biomarker has been earmarked as the tool to analyse stress. However, the relationship between heart rate variability approach and the quantification of stress is still an open research challenge. Therefore, the goal of this study is to explore the role of heart rate variability (HRV) and psychometric scale on stress and resilience analysis among university students and the effectiveness of interventions and Heart Rate Variability devices on improving resilience. 30 students, 15 males and 15 females aged 23 to 24 years old were picked as the subjects for this experiment according to their stress and resilience scores obtained from two questionnaires, Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS21). Their heart rate variability was measured using HeartMath EmWave device to observe the changes of their heart rhythm when a stimulus and an intervention is given. The data acquired from HeartMath EmWave were analyzed using Kubios HRV software, where it provides more in-depth analysis regarding the subjects’ heart rate during the experiment. According to the results, most of the subjects’ heart rate becomes incoherent during the stimulus phase. However, their heart rate changes into a coherence state due to the effectiveness of slow breathing techniques as an intervention. It helps the subjects to become calmer and synchronize their autonomic nervous system (ANS) with their brain and heart. Therefore, choosing the right intervention is vital to get a coherent heart rate, thus train how our body responds to stressors. The results also provide fruitful insight relating to how a human reacts when they are facing something difficult in their lives and indicates that heart rate variability biofeedback is important to achieve human wellness and validate the quantification of resilience and stress. This study concludes that the heart rate variability device and measurement are effective and have a vital impact to create stress awareness.