Querétaro (Mexico), Apr 8 (EFE).- The Autonomous University of Querétaro (UAQ), in central Mexico, created the “Vaccine against loneliness”, an immersive reality technology to address the effects of isolation left by the covid-19 pandemic and other longstanding mental health issues.
The technological tools of the “vaccine” were created by students, teachers and researchers of mechatronics and architecture from the UAQ in collaboration with psychologists and specialists from the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the University of Colima.
Luis Alberto Morales, project leader, explained to EFE that it was born years ago, when they identified the need to develop tools that would induce pleasant emotions in patients and, on the other hand, measure the effect of these emotions on the body.
That is why they created the “Vaccine against loneliness”, which included the development of 10 real and hyperreal virtual scenarios, with which positive and measurable situations are induced through sight and hearing through the response of the human body. .
“For more than 10 years we began to collaborate with the Faculty of Psychology at UNAM, with a group that is quite enthusiastic about technology. We began to study emotions”, explained the also engineering coordinator at the San Juan del Río campus of the UAQ.
“We must remember that the human being, before being rational, is emotional. So we began to work precisely on how to identify emotions in humans, based on these physiological signals that are generated mainly with thermography”, he added.
HOW IS THIS IMMUNIZATION APPLIED?
The application of the “Vaccine against loneliness” begins with a test to identify the problem to be addressed, such as stress, anxiety, depression, a grieving process, among other conditions.
The team then decides which environments to use from among 10 immersive scenarios created by the developers to address these conditions.
Each patient will have a QR code that will allow them, from their cell phone, to enter these scenarios, which will be uploaded to a web platform to carry out the treatment, either within an office with their therapist or remotely.
“If the person needs it, they take their kit home and monitor it, and that information will reach their cell phone, the mental health person, and they may be monitoring it,” Morales explained.
BETWEEN “MINDFULNESS” AND IMMERSION
In addition to the virtual scenarios, training is provided based on the meditation technique called “mindfulness” or “full consciousness”, focused on centering the person in the present with a brief breathing exercise.
In accordance with the “mindfulness” technique, the specialists proposed eight treatment sessions, but with the “Vaccine against loneliness”, by having immersive spaces with real and hyperreal scenarios, the process can be halved.
That is to say, that with four sessions they will be able to obtain the results that would traditionally be obtained with eight.
“We are betting on four weeks with this immersion part, they are accompanied by music and guided by these ‘mindfulness’ exercises to be able to regulate breathing,” María Luisa Balderas, a UAQ teacher and manager of the application, explained to EFE. of mindfulness tools.
“The already designed or redesigned environments help us gain that part of and take them to that environment where we are going to be able to give that treatment to be able to give attention to loneliness, depression, stress, anxiety and, apart, also the intention of the environments is gain people’s attention,” he added.
Of the 10 developed scenarios, five are for children, due to the colors and music, and there is also a geriatric scenario, which is the house of memories, where the silhouettes of the maternal grandmothers are.
MEXICAN STUDENTS INNOVATE
Francisco Sánchez is a postgraduate student in Mechatronic Sciences at UAQ and was in charge of developing an Android application for this vaccine.
It also took care of the device to measure the temperature of the fingers of the hand, which is sent to the application to analyze the impact of the vaccine on the body.
“It is to be able to corroborate the operation of these environments, to see how the temperature changes throughout the entire session,” he explained.
Although the “Vaccine against loneliness” is already applied on the UAQ campus in Querétaro, it is still being improved so that, this year, it can be delivered to mental health specialists who decide to incorporate these tools into their care processes.
