Abstract
India imposed the largest lockdown in the world in response to fight the spread of the Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from 19 March till 31 May 2020. The onset of the pandemic left the general public feeling psychosocially distressed, helpless, and anxious. The researcher developed a Messenger supported Chatbot, based on the broaden and build model, to cater to the healthy general public to promote positivity and mental well-being. 31 participants between 22 and 45 years old consensually took a pre-test, Chatbot intervention, and post-test. The Chatbot provided guided activities out of which positive affirmations, meditation, and exercises were mostly used. The qualitative data from the study shows that the majority of the participants strongly feel positivity is within themselves and that the tool provided a self-help approach to be me well, mentally during the lockdown. The intervention helped significantly reducing symptoms of psychosocial distress in six of the individual’s post-chatbot interventions. Participants’ impressions of the tool suggest more preponderant opportunities for future research in technology-driven mental health support.
Highlights
In the year 2020, an ongoing global pandemic enveloped the world, leaving millions sick and many dead
Since the phase 1 complete lockdown for about 21 days was announced on 24th March 2020, there was limited time available for the researchers to procure funding and to recruit participants for the study, the research was quickly kick-started to help the general public to cope with changes to their mental wellness that will arise because of something as new as a pandemic and lockdown
The Chatbot was gradually fed with the cues and it learned the inputs of the participants and it was developed into a full-fledged self-supported mental wellness Chatbot by the end of the 30-day study period
Summary
In the year 2020, an ongoing global pandemic enveloped the world, leaving millions sick and many dead. On 07 January 2020, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) identified and isolated this novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2). The SARSCoV-2 was transmitted between people who had close contacts with someone who was affected. Infected people may develop severe and even fatal respiratory diseases (e.g., acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and acute respiratory failure) which will lead to being treated under intensive care units [2]. The virus spread all through the world, gradually affecting almost all countries [3]. WHO urged all countries to take strict measures to contain the spread of the virus and international flights were completely halted across all countries. Steps were taken keeping in mind the SARS outbreak of 2003 (World Health Organization, 2003)
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