Introduction

Introduction

• The WHO has qualified stress as a 'world epidemic' due to its increasingly greater incidence on health.
   
• High levels of chronic stress have adverse effects on physical and mental health.
   
• If the stress response system remains active for a prolonged period, this can increase the likelihood of developing several health issues, such as anxiety, depression, and various physical ailments (McEwen, 2007), and add to the global burden of disease (GBD 2019 Mental Disorders Collaborators, 2022).

Introduction

• Measuring stress is crucial for timely intervention due to its impact on health and well-being. It helps in identifying vulnerable individuals and reducing the causes of stress (Cranwell-Ward, 2005).
   
• Despite its association with chronic diseases, stress is rarely assessed in primary care, highlighting the need for its routine measurement (Wulsin, 2022).
   
• Stress measurement also allows for the verification of intervention effectiveness and assessment of individual differences in stress reactivity (Sumińska, 2022).
   
• However, the lack of a precise definition of stress and a reliable measurement method remain significant challenges (Llobe, 2019).

Literature Review

• Adolescents in India face many stressors in their day-to-day lives and thus experience high levels of stress. A cross-sectional study with rural adolescent students in Maharashtra showed high prevalence rates of depression (53.9%), anxiety (59.7%), and stress (43.8%) measured with the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and a strong correlation between stress, depression, and anxiety (Shaikh et al., 2018).
   
• A study with high school students from the south zone of Delhi indicated that stress notably affected adolescents’ mental health, leading to internalizing problems such as anxiety and withdrawal or externalizing problems such as rule-breaking and aggression (Mathew et al., 2015).

Literature Review

• A large-scale qualitative study was conducted with 191 adolescents from Delhi and Goa, where 22 focus group discussions were conducted to identify the most common stressors experienced by Indian adolescents. The study revealed that academic pressure, romantic relationships, negotiating autonomy, and safety/victimization were the most frequently reported stressors.
   
• The students felt pressured to perform well academically, were stressed due to parental disapproval or failure of romantic relationships, faced restrictions of personal freedom, felt peer pressure to use substances, and experienced safety concerns such as bullying, corporal punishment, and gender discrimination (Parikh et al., 2019).
   
• Urban adolescents in Mysore were found to face the following main stressors: family pressure, academic stress, peer-related stress, lack of financial security, and gender discrimination (Nagabharana et al., 2021).
   
• Girls, also face stress related to gender roles and sexual harassment (Parikh, 2019).

Literature Review

• A range of methods exist for measuring stress, including self-reporting scales, physiological and biochemical measures, and questionnaires (Downs, 1990; Reisman, 1997; Derevenco, 2000).
   
• These methods can assess stress factors, reactions, and relationships with the environment, and are particularly useful in diagnosing occupational stress (Derevenco, 2000).
   
• However, the diagnosis of stress is complex and subject to experimental error.

Literature Review

• A range of methods have been developed to identify and quantify stressors. Cohen (1995) provides a comprehensive overview, including check-list and interview measurements of stressful life events, as well as the measurement of stress hormones and immune response.
   

• Sharma (2012) focuses on non-invasive and unobtrusive sensors for measuring stress, and computational techniques for stress recognition and classification.
   

• Cooper (1983) reviews research on work stressors, such as shift work, job overload, and role conflicts.
   

• Aguiló (2015) presents a method to objectively quantify stress levels, based on the identification of stress types and indicators, and the use of psychometric tests and well-documented stressors.

   

Rationale

• Chronic stress in adolescence is a more pressing problem.
   
• Studies have shown that chronic stress in adolescence has deteriorating impact on several aspects of them including lowered academic performance, low self-esteem, high demands,  poor health, and insufficient sleep. (Schraml, 2012).
   
• Furthermore, The growing prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression in adolescents is a concern, with potential impacts on brain development and treatment options (McKain, 2019).
   

Rationale

• The rise of viewership of short-form video content is an Interesting Phenomenon
   

Distribution of users age in instagram as of Jan' 23 

• The Adolescent population in Particular is a large consumer of short-form video content, and its almost a second-hand habit to scroll through reels, and liking has become almost an unconscious effort one might take. 

Research Gap

• Several studies have studied the negative impacts of short-form video content on the youth population (Muda (2018)).
  
   
• Various other studies have looked into the possibility of using short-form video content as an intervention. (Yuting Yang,2023) For example, investigated the effect of a short video-based mental health intervention on depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents.
   
• These efforts and studies suggest a strong tie between short-form video content and mental health, But No studies till now have tried to use short-form video content to estimate/quantify one's mental state like stress/ to identify stressors.
   
• We believe This type of measurement would be highly relevant, and a  natural means of measurement for the adolescent population. 

Introduction

• Hence our Interdisciplinary study aims to access the following:

Given A sequence of reels/shorts(Short form video Content) , and which reels/shorts a person likes (Liking Pattern), be used as an estimator for chronic stress, and possibly identify the stressors.

Objectives

1) Given A sequence of reels/shorts(Short form video Content), and which reels/shorts a person likes (Liking Pattern), be used as an estimator for chronic stress, and possibly identify the stressors.
 

2) Can shorts/Reels be used as in Intervention to improve mental mood?

PRIMARY:

SECONDARY:

1) Develop a RAG Based Chatbot for patient information about stress

2) Try different affective modalities as augmented information to improve the outcomes mentioned in the primary objectives

Tentative Methedology

Tentative Methedology

• A scrutinized pool or reels/shorts will be collected and tagged. 
• A participant will be shown a sequence of reels, following a sampling strategy from the pool of reels for a stipulated period, like 2 min. 
• The like patterns of the participants are analyzed and the system tries to give a score and identify the stressor. 
• The scores will be accessed to see if there is data agreement with standardized psycometric tests

Tentative Methedology

Probabilistic
Model

Sampler

Sampler

Reel Pool

USER

Tentative Methedology

Probabilistic
Model

Sampler

Sampler

Reel Pool

USER

Phase-1

Tentative Methedology

Probabilistic
Model

Sampler

Sampler

Reel Pool

USER

Phase-1

Like Pattern,Reels

Tentative Methedology

Probabilistic
Model

Sampler

Sampler

Reel Pool

USER

Phase-1

Like Pattern,Reels

Hypothesis

Tentative Methedology

Probabilistic
Model

Sampler

Sampler

Reel Pool

USER

Phase-2

Like Pattern,Reels,
Expected Like Pattern

Now we ask the sampler, Given the hypothesis, what reels and what like pattern should I expect to accept or reject the hypothesis

Tentative Methedology

Probabilistic
Model

Sampler

Sampler

Reel Pool

USER

Phase-2

Like Pattern,Reels,
Expected Like Pattern

Now we ask the sampler, Given the hypothesis, what reels and what like pattern should I expect to accept or reject the hypothesis

Score

Tentative Methedology

• To validate and test the effectiveness of the method, we plan to do data agreement tests against some standard psycometric scales

Expected Outcomes

Expected Outcomes

1) Tool/App: A tool or an App that can be deployed anywhere to access the stress levels. 

2) Publication: An Interdiciplinary, Journal publication/Draft

Timeline

Timeline

References

American Psychological Association. (2022). How to help children and teens manage their stress. https://www.apa.org/topics/children/stress 
 

Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unravelling the mystery of health. How people manage stress and stay well. Jossey-Bass.
 

Gonsalves, P. P., Hodgson, E. S., Bhat, B., Sharma, R., Jambhale, A., Michelson, D., & Patel, V. (2021). App-based guided problem-solving intervention for adolescent mental health: A pilot cohort study in Indian schools. Evidence-Based Mental Health, 24(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.1136/ebmental-2020-300194 
 

Lazarus, R. S. & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.
 

Malik, K., Parikh, R., Sahu, R., Sudhir, P., Fairburn, C. G., Patel, V., & Michelson, D. (2023). “If there is a tension about something, I can solve it”: A qualitative investigation of change processes in a trial of brief problem‐solving interventions for common adolescent mental health problems in India. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 96(1), 189-208. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12433 
 

Mathew, N., Khakha, D. C., Qureshi, A., Sagar, R., & Khakha, C. C. (2015). Stress and coping among adolescents in selected schools in the capital city of India. The Indian Journal of Pediatrics, 82, 809-816.

McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation: Central role of the brain.
Physiological Reviews, 87(3), 873-904. https://doi.org/10.1097/NRL.0000000000000453 
 

Mishra, A., & Pandey, S. (2022). Functional neurological disorders: Clinical spectrum, diagnosis, and treatment. The Neurologist, 27(5), 276-289.
 

Nagabharana, T. K., Joseph, S., Rizwana, A., Krishna, M., Barker, M., Fall, C., Kumaran, K., & Krishnaveni, G. V. (2021). What stresses adolescents? A qualitative study on perceptions of stress, stressors and coping mechanisms among urban adolescents in India. Wellcome Open Research, 6, 106.
 

References

Parikh, R., Sapru, M., Krishna, M., Cuijpers, P., Patel, V., & Michelson, D. (2019). “It is like a mind attack”: stress and coping among urban school-going adolescents in India. BMC Psychology, 7(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-019-0306-z 
 

Pearlin, L. I. & Schooler, C. (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 2-21.

Shah, S. M. A., Mohammad, D., Qureshi, M. F. H., Abbas, M. Z., & Aleem, S. (2021). Prevalence, psychological responses and associated correlates of depression, anxiety and stress in a global population, during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Community Mental Health Journal, 57, 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00728-y 

Shaikh, B. M., Doke, P. P., & Gothankar, J. S. (2018). Depression, anxiety, stress, and stressors among rural adolescents studying in Pune and a rural block of Nanded district of Maharashtra, India. Indian Journal of Public Health, 62(4), 311-314.

Nagabharana, T.K., Joseph, S., Rizwana, A., Krishna, M., Barker, M.E., Fall, C.H., Kumaran, K., & Krishnaveni, G.V. (2021). What stresses adolescents? A qualitative study on perceptions of stress, stressors and coping mechanisms among urban adolescents in India. Wellcome Open Research, 6.

Parikh, Rachana et al. ““It is like a mind attack”: stress and coping among urban school-going adolescents in India.” BMC Psychology 7 (2019): n. pag.