A Comprehensive Stacking Ensemble Approach for Stress Level Classification in Higher Education

Abstract

This research focuses on developing a comprehensive ensemble stacking model for the classification of student stress levels in higher education environments, specifically at Hang Tuah University Pekanbaru. Using a physiological dataset that includes parameters such as SPO2, heart rate, body temperature, systolic, and diastolic pressure, this research categorizes the condition of college students into four main categories: anxious, calm, tense, and relaxed. The data taken from public health centers in the period 2021 to 2024 was processed using the SMOTE technique to overcome data imbalance and K-Fold Cross Validation for model validation. In model development, a combination of basic algorithms such as SVM, Logistic Regression, Multilayer Perceptron, and Random Forest is used which is enhanced by boosting techniques through ADABoost, and XGBoost as a meta model. The test results show that the proposed stacking model is able to achieve 95% accuracy, with an AUC of 0.95, which indicates excellent performance in classification. The model not only excels in detecting more extreme stress conditions such as anxiety, but also shows reliable ability in classifying more difficult to distinguish conditions such as tense and relaxed. The conclusion of this study shows that the applied stacking ensemble approach significantly improves prediction accuracy and stability compared to traditional models. For future research, it is recommended to explore the use of deep learning-based meta-models such as LSTM and BiLSTM as well as rotation techniques in stacking to improve model performance and flexibility. The findings are expected to contribute significantly to the development of more sophisticated and effective stress detection models.