Long-Term Measurement of EDA in Natural Settings Concerning Anxiety, Chronic Stress, and Depression: a Systematic Literature Review
Nylund, Anni (2022)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022060615909
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022060615909
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis is to complete a literature review on the long-term measurement of electrodermal activity in natural settings with ambulatory measurement sensors. In more detail the search is limited to scenarios concerning anxiety, depression, and other possible chronic stress related disorders. The studies must include a study sample that consists of people with the diagnosis or people presenting with symptoms. This will give insight into the possibilities of the use of EDA in research and give ideas for future research.
The thesis was conducted as a systematic literature review. The process of gathering the data was done systematically. Literature was collected from peer-reviewed articles from Pubmed, Finna, Cinahl and Science Direct. The research limits were articles between 2005 and 2021, English as the language, and had to be relevant to the chosen topic. The articles were critically analyzed with the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research. Finally, 5 articles were included in the review.
The articles discussed anxiety, burnout, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Three different sensors were used to measure skin conductance. All studies were conducted outside the laboratory, measurement times varied from 8 hours to 24 hours. Due to a small article sample drawing conclusions was difficult. While the data does partially support a relationship between skin conductance and the diagnoses, more research is needed to gather generalizable results. There is an indication of skin conductance measurement to be used as a supplementary tool to study mental health conditions as an addition to more traditional interviews and questionnaires, as both provide information the other cannot.
While the data supported the relationship between burnout and skin conductance (SC), anxiety and SC, and panic disorder and SC, these studies are not enough to generalize findings. More studies having EDA measurement as a focus point are needed to support or disprove the findings of this review.
The thesis was conducted as a systematic literature review. The process of gathering the data was done systematically. Literature was collected from peer-reviewed articles from Pubmed, Finna, Cinahl and Science Direct. The research limits were articles between 2005 and 2021, English as the language, and had to be relevant to the chosen topic. The articles were critically analyzed with the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research. Finally, 5 articles were included in the review.
The articles discussed anxiety, burnout, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Three different sensors were used to measure skin conductance. All studies were conducted outside the laboratory, measurement times varied from 8 hours to 24 hours. Due to a small article sample drawing conclusions was difficult. While the data does partially support a relationship between skin conductance and the diagnoses, more research is needed to gather generalizable results. There is an indication of skin conductance measurement to be used as a supplementary tool to study mental health conditions as an addition to more traditional interviews and questionnaires, as both provide information the other cannot.
While the data supported the relationship between burnout and skin conductance (SC), anxiety and SC, and panic disorder and SC, these studies are not enough to generalize findings. More studies having EDA measurement as a focus point are needed to support or disprove the findings of this review.