Strength-Based Coping App for Accessible Autism Stress Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional coping strategies for individuals on the autism spectrum, particularly during stressful situations, are often inaccessible or ineffective, and there is a need for more accessible and effective methods for coping skills training.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that allows users to identify their character strengths, select coping strategies based on these strengths, and use them during stressful times, eliminating the need for physical cards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional coping strategies are used, then clinical benefit may be achieved, but accessibility and effectiveness are reduced for individuals on the autism spectrum during stressful situations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates digital copies of coping strategies in the form of electronic cards within a mobile application. These digital cards replicate the functionality of physical strength-based coping cards but are accessible through a smartphone app, making them readily available during stressful moments without physical handling requirements that may challenge individuals on the autism spectrum.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of physical card handling with a digital interface. Instead of shuffling, selecting, and carrying physical cards, users interact with coping strategies through touchscreen gestures, text selection, and digital navigation within the mobile application, eliminating tactile and motor challenges associated with physical materials.
2Ease of operation
If physical cards are used for strength-based coping, then users can have tangible coping mechanisms, but the cards may be lost or destroyed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates digital replicas of coping cards that exist permanently within the application's database. These digital copies eliminate the risk of loss, damage, or destruction associated with physical cards while maintaining the structured format and ease of selection that made physical cards useful.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile application automatically manages the coping card library, ensuring that strategies are always available without requiring physical storage space or protection. The system self-maintains the availability of coping resources through digital storage and automatic updates, eliminating the need for users to physically protect or retrieve cards.
3Adaptability or versatility
If traditional talk therapy is used, then coping strategies can be taught, but they become inaccessible when users are highly stressed or overwhelmed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements coping strategies that are pre-loaded and organized within the mobile application before stress occurs. Users can familiarize themselves with the available strategies during calm periods, and when stress arises, the pre-organized digital cards are immediately accessible without requiring verbal processing or therapeutic intervention at that moment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the verbal communication mechanism of talk therapy with a direct digital interface. During stressful moments, users can silently select and view coping strategies through the app without needing to verbally process information or engage in dialogue, making the coping mechanisms accessible even when verbal processing is compromised by stress or overwhelm.
Data Source
AI summary
Exemplary method for strength-based coping training includes (a) prompting user, by a software application operable on a computing device, to identify at least one of their top character strengths from a preset list of character strengths, the preset list of character strengths being identified in a character strengths database; (b) receiving from the user in response, a selection of at least one of their top character strengths from the preset list of character strengths; (c) processing the received selection of the user's top character strengths to identify different coping strategies from a coping strategy database that the user may wish to consider, wherein identification of the different coping strategies being based on the received user's top character strengths selection; and (d) the software application providing to the computing device information for presenting, or making accessible, to the user the identified different coping strategies that the user may wish to consider.