No child alone: User centred design of a machine-learning, private social network for school aged children to address their COVID‑19 related socio-emotional needs.
The COVID‑19 pandemic is having a potentially devastating and long-lasting negative on children around the world. Millions of children are experiencing Covid-19 related trauma, mental health challenges, delayed social and/or emotional development, and/or negative behaviors resulting from social and physical isolation. As children return to schools and/or remain socially isolated many will need to access unique, intense and ongoing socio-emotional and mental health supports.
Curatio Networks Inc. ([www.curatio.me](http://www.curatio.me)) is a Canadian award-winning digital health company. They have developed a proprietary private social platform and mobile app that people can use to securely, safely and intelligently build support circles, access reliable online content related to their health goals, and track their progress. To date the platform has been rolled out for people that live with and support those living with chronic health issues (used in 85 countries) and recently in the Stronger Together version, addressing adult-related COVID‑19 challenges.
Dr. Antle (Professor, School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University) is an award-winning thought-leader in design, innovation, ethics and research in interactive technology design for children. In recent NSERC funded work she developed and validated a mobile intervention that supported children’s recovery from trauma through enhanced socio-emotional learning and emotional regulation.
The goal of this project combines the expertise of Dr. Antle’s child-centred design research with the Curatio team to create, populate and deploy a COVID‑19 support system for children (10-18 years) and their teachers, parents and caregivers. The No Child Alone Curatio system will enable those who care about children’s learning, development and mental health to effectively and efficiently work with children to overcome social-emotional and mental health challenges related to the impact of COVID‑19 in Canada, and internationally.
