@inproceedings{BordiniKorn2022, author = {Bordini, Rog{\´e}rio Augusto and Korn, Oliver}, title = {Strengthening Invisible Ties: Decreasing Loneliness Indices of University Students Through a Gamified Mobile App}, booktitle = {GoodIT '22: Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Conference on Information Technology for Social Good}, organization = {Association for Computing Machinery}, isbn = {978-1-4503-9284-6}, doi = {10.1145/3524458.3548489}, institution = {ACI - Affective and Cognitive Institute}, pages = {424 -- 430}, year = {2022}, abstract = {During the periods of social isolation to contain the advance of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, educational institutions have had the challenge to adopt technological strategies not only to ensure continuity in students' classes, but also to support their mental health in a period of uncertainty and health risks. Loneliness is an emotional distress caused by the lack of meaningful social connections; it has increasingly affected young adults worldwide during the pandemic's social isolation and still bears psychological effects in the current post-pandemic period. In the light of this challenge, the Nonenliness App was developed as a way to bring together university communities to address issues related to loneliness and mental health disorders through a gamified and social online environment. In this paper, we present the app and its main functionalities (Beta version) and discuss the preliminary results of a pilot clinical study conducted with university students in Germany (N = 12) to verify the app's efficacy and usability, alongside the challenges faced and the next steps to be taken regarding the platform's improvement.}, subject = {Einsamkeit}, language = {en} }