PRE2019 4 Group1

Bryan Buster, Edyta Koper, Sietze Gelderloos, Matthijs Logeman, Bart Wesselink,

Problem statement and objectives

With about one-third of the world’s population living under some form of quarantine due to the COVID-19 outbreak [1], scientists sound the alarm on the negative psychological effects of the current situation [2]. Studies on the impact of massive self-isolation in the past, such as in Canada and China in 2003 during the SARS outbreak or in west African countries caused by Ebola in 2014, have shown that the psychological side effects of quarantine can be observed several months or even years after an epidemic is contained [3]. Among others, prolong self-isolation may lead to higher risk of depression, anxiety, poor concentration and lowered motivation level [2]. The negative effects on well-being can be mitigated by introducing measurements which help in the process of accommodation to a new situation during the quarantine. Such measurements should aim at reducing the boredom (1), improving the communication within a social network (2) and keeping people informed (3) [2]. With the following project, we propose an in-house assistant that addresses these three objectives. Although the assistant is designed with a view of self-isolation caused by disease outbreak, it is also applicable for people who spend a considerable part of their time at home.

[1] Buchholz, K., & Richter, F. (2020, April 3). Infographic: What Share of the World Population Is Already on COVID-19 Lockdown? Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/chart/21240/enforced-covid-19-lockdowns-by-people-affected-per-country/

[2] Brooks, S. K., Webster, R. K., Smith, L. E., Woodland, L., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., & Rubin, G. J. (2020). The Psychological Impact of Quarantine and How to Reduce It: Rapid Review of the Evidence. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3532534

[3] Liu, X., Kakade, M., Fuller, C. J., Fan, B., Fang, Y., Kong, J., … Wu, P. (2012). Depression after exposure to stressful events: lessons learned from the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 53(1), 15–23. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2011.02.003