The Isolation Solution

Social distancing policies enacted the world over during the COVID-19 pandemic have left many people socially isolated. Your challenge is to develop innovative solutions to combat social isolation.

United Hands

Summary

United Hands is an application in which you can develop new skills or maintain how you were used to working with people who share the same tastes and goals as you. Take advantage of your idle time to learn to play the guitar, exercise, learn a new language or even break free from a video or bad habit. Our app contains a gamification system for performing task tasks that can guide you to develop a new standard of living and feel encouraged to continue. During this screening, you can follow the testimonies of people who are walking beside you, fulfilling your goals and feeling the impact of this on your daily life, in addition to the guidance of volunteer mentors for groups.

How We Addressed This Challenge

The main challenge is to combat the psychological impacts that social isolation has brought. The solution to this problem is based on an app that encourages social interaction in a virtual way among users, in order to support themselves in their common problems, such as group therapy and develop activities that please them, such as learning to dance, a new language, guitar lessons, etc. In the current scenario never before experienced, the importance of an initiative that unites technology and mental health is to promote the well-being of people above all.

How We Developed This Project

From the brainstorm carried out by the team, it was possible to raise several ideas for the challenges proposed by the Hackathon. Then, several debates were raised until we reached a consensus on what would be the most likely idea to represent the team and to use the data provided by space agencies. The most difficult part of this process was giving up the rest. Finally, we continued to search for the ideal name, slogan and provisional logo, but that still represented our value proposition in the best possible way, thus United Hands emerged.

We use NASA data to relate the areas of occurrence of COVID-19 to the location of users. Thus, it is possible to raise awareness of people who are suffering emotionally from the effects of the pandemic, using statistical models by region. We continued with some research and found a study by researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Houston, made available by the NASA database, which showed the elderly audience as the main target of COVID-19, not only physically but also emotionally.

We applied the SWOT matrix to assess the main strengths and weaknesses proposed by United Hands. As strength, there is an easy-to-use application, great social impact, use of innovative methodologies such as gamification, competitive differential and the presence of a large target audience. Weaknesses include the low initial application curve and the considerable cost of advertising. But in general, the project has a great impact, mitigating the emotional consequences of a large number of people. It brings with it an inspiring mission, it was previously validated by a quick market research, it has technical feasibility and can alleviate considerably a good part of the emotional effects caused by social isolation.

Project Demo

https://youtu.be/aekYFZli5UI

Data & Resources

Reference to data used:

  • https://nacoesunidas.org/depressao-afeta-mais-de-300-milhoes-de-pessoas-e-e-doenca-que-mais-incapacita-pacientes-diz-oms/
  • https://nacoesunidas.org/covid-19-e-necessario-agir-agora-ou-arriscar-devastacao-inimaginavel-diz-chefe-da-onu/
  • https://nacoesunidas.org/oms-o-impacto-da-pandemia-na-saude-mental-das-pessoas-ja-e-extremamente-preocupante/amp/
  • https://nacoesunidas.org/onu-servicos-de-saude-mental-devem-ser-parte-essencial-de-resposta-ao-coronavirus/
  • https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/category/news-roundup/
  • https://mafspace.msfc.nasa.gov/employee-assistance-program/
  • https://nasapeople.nasa.gov/coronavirus/michoud.html
  • https://mafspace.msfc.nasa.gov/


Reference to used software:

  • https://www.figma.com/files/recent
  • https://www.adobe.com/br/products/photoshop
  • https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/
Tags
#social impact #social isolation #social life #depression #healthy habits #motivation #inspiration #covid 19
Global Judging
This project was submitted for consideration during the Space Apps Global Judging process.