Development of a Web-based System to Analyse the Emotional, Mental and Physical (EMP) Health Conditions of Users

Abstract

Health is a dynamic concept that concentrates on life. It is very important to observe health as a multidimensional phenomenon, with emotional, mental and social perspectives that are inseparable from one another. The Emotional, Mental, and Physical Health Analyser (EMPHA) is a Web-based system that analyses emotional, mental and physical health status of users, and is aimed at improving their EMP health conditions. The analysis is done by asking a set of questions pertaining to emotional, mental and physical (EMP) health conditions. Knowing the EMP status, appropriate exercises/treatments will be recommended to the users. EMPHA consists of nine modules – View Information, User Registration, User Authentication, User Health Status, Treatments Assigned, Treatments Info, Email Notification, Treatments History and Health Status Comparison. Users can use this system after they have gone through the registration process. The EMPHA will display two different questionnaires pertaining to the emotional, mental, and physical health, sequentially. These questionnaires are based on the theories of Vera Peiffer, who is qualified analyst / hypnotherapist and health kinesiologist. The first questionnaire evaluates the EMP health status of the users. The second questionnaire assesses the EMP severity level if users are found to have EMP health problems from the results of the first questionnaire. Also, the exercises/treatments recommended are based on those contained in her book entitled “Inner Happiness: Positive Steps to Feeling Complete.” Users have to undergo treatments for the duration recommended. The EMPHA system also sends emails to the users to remind them to record their exercise/treatments on a daily basis. The users have the option to disable this reminder email notification service. After completing the treatments within the specified period, the users will answer the second questionnaire using the EMPHA system again. The EMPHA system will display the current EMP health status of the user. Users could compare their EMP health conditions before and after performing the exercises/treatments. The evolutionary prototyping development methodology was used in the development of the EMPHA system. It is a dynamic Web application using C# as the programming language and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 as the database management system. Other development tools used include Macromedia Dream Weaver 8.0, and Internet iii Information Services (IIS). To illustrate the steps to carry out the exercises/treatments, character modeling and animated graphics were developed using 3D Studio MAX and Adobe After Effect. The EMPHA system was used in a survey involving participants from three different IT universities in Pakistan. The results of the EMP health assessment show that out of 112 participants (63 male and 49 female), more male participants (59 out of 63, 93.6%) suffer from EMP health problems as compared to the female participants (43 out of 49, 87.7%). Majority of the male participants (15, 23.8%) have emotional, mental and physical health problems, but most of the female participants (13, 26.5%) suffer from emotional and mental health problems. Generally, the mean difference of the EMP health scores show that all the participants show improvement in their EMP health conditions after performing exercises/treatments. Hence, the EMPHA system can be used to help users to identify their EMP health problems and perform the exercises/treatments recommended to overcome them.