Abstract

The aim of the "EmmA" project is to develop an interactive, mobile assistance system that provides individual coaching in the event of psychological stress and can be used for risk assessment at the workplace as well as for occupational reintegration after a mental illness.

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Description

Around 15 percent of working people's sick days are due to mental disorders but mental illnesses in Germany still do not receive the attention that would actually be necessary to prevent longer absences and early retirement. The government has reacted to this alarming development by obliging employers to carry out a risk assessment of psychological factors and to take appropriate countermeasures. Currently, less than a quarter of all companies have a sufficient risk assessment. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of psychologically qualified personnel in companies. The development of an interactive assistance system that advises employees individually in the event of psychological stress would be helpful in everyday working life in order to meet the legal requirements. From a technical point of view, "EmmA" will perform a multimodal real-time sensor analysis with the help of the built-in sensors of the smartphones from the respective users. Thereby the physiological and social signals are recorded and interpreted. Based on this, a socio-emotional behaviour model will be developed and coupled with a virtual avatar that offers context-dependent help in critical situations.