MoodRadar-DAVID: providing caretakers with real-time, personalized insight in electrodermal activity of clients who show severely challenging behavior

In our project we focused on measuring changes in skin conductance of people with severe mental disabilities, who also consistently showed challenging behaviour such as aggressive acts and self-injurious behaviour. Caretakers often report being surprised by these outbursts and explicitly express a need for additional tools to gain insight in the arousal levels of their clients. The aim of our project was to investigate the potential value of ambulatory physiological measurements in bringing this insight to the caretakers. The MoodRadar-DAVID project is a design and research project consisting of the following stages: (1) we established that skin conductance of the clients could reliably be measured for long periods of times (weeks) during their normal lives, and that relevant parameters could be extracted. (2) We investigated whether the introduction of the wearable technology would not distress the clients even more, making the project immediately counter-productive relative to its aims. (3) We created a suitable algorithm for aggregating and visualizing the skin conductance data. (4) We built a first prototype following UserCentred Design principles. (5) We are carrying out a first implementation study on the effectiveness of the system to alleviate the problems that lay at the foundation of the project.