FIONAS
STUDIO
STRESS-FREE
Skills:
Product development
Market research
Personas
Completion Date:
2023 Semester 1
Brief:
Develop an innovation from an initial idea into a validated and compelling case that has considered all aspects of its market, competition and business model and proposes the next steps required to bring the opportunity into reality.
A concept render of “Stress-Free”. A portable, soft "hand holding" device that accompanies individuals who require support in anxiety eliciting situations. This device has a flexible thumb grip that caters to all types of handedness and hand-holding behaviours. Air compression technology is incorporated, and when the device is turned on, it squeezes and grips tightly onto the user's hands, giving the effect of holding a hand for comfort.
Aim
- Provide an alternative to physical touch for people struggling with loneliness
- Provide emotional support on the go for the stressed and anxious
- Give individuals with anxiety access to immediate approaches to reduce anxiety
- Provide a healthy way to cope with anxiety at home
Research
- Within individuals with an anxiety disorder, roughly 62% are female, and a sixth were children or adolescents (Fleming, 2023).
- The Forbes Health Advisory Board states that currently, there are 374 million individuals worldwide that have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders (Duszynski-Goodman, 2023).
- 30% of individuals live with anxiety but are undiagnosed: due to not seeking help, feeling ashamed, being misdiagnosed, or not seeing problems with experiencing anxiety (Folk, 2021).
- Covid-19 had likely impacted the prevalence of anxiety disorders due to being confined in homes, with the lack of access to real-life interactions.
- The World Health Organisation says this pandemic triggered a 25% increase in anxiety disorders in the following years of the pandemic (WHO, 2022).
- Public stigma - Making fun of those with a mental illness and negative/ discriminatory attitudes (Borenstein, 2020).
- Self-stigma - Highlights how those with a mental illness focus on the negativity around their own conditions, leading to things like internalised shame and doubt (Borenstein, 2020).
- Institutional stigma - Involves private and government organisations/businesses that intentionally or unintentionally limit opportunities for people with mental illness. (Borenstein, 2020).
- Positive coping mechanisms are associated with higher self-esteem and emotional regulation, reduction of negative coping strategies, less suicidal ideation (Heffer & Willoughby, 2017) - Positive coping results in better emotional regulation, this then feeds back into increased likelihood of using positive coping strategies (Heffer & Willoughby, 2017).
- Whereas negative coping strategies shows increased likelihood of depressive symptoms, poor self-esteem, poor emotional regulation and increased suicidal ideation (Heffer & Willoughby, 2017)
- Non-fatal injuries as a result of self-harm occurred with 5.9 injuries per 100,000 people (Stats NZ, 2019).
- Prevalence of self-harm was 16.9% (Gillies et al., 2018). Lowering suicidal risk via interventions should be made available to those who self-harm
- Preventative interventions that can help people deal with negative feelings should be introduced as soon as possible (Gillies et al., 2018).
- Up to 30% of the population perform nail biting.
- Chronic biting can cause damage to the nail beds and surrounding skin (UCLAHealth, 2022).
- Nail biting is associated with anxiety (UCLAHealth, 2022). Nail biting can be a chronic and debilitating habit that may continue into adulthood.
Although related to stress, the habit also can contribute to severe psychosocial distress (Baghchechi et al., 2021)