Team of Omani students design app to support mental health

Muscat: A team of Omani students has designed a “Chillax” application to improve mental health and address issues related to psychological problems. The app also helps remove misconceptions about mental health illness.

Amna bint Malik Al Dahmani told Oman News Agency that the application has several programmes included and helps people to also book separate therapy sessions with experts.

She said: “We have sessions that are short-term and also where people can book according to their needs. The application also provides a diagnostic test and determines if the user needs therapy sessions.”

She added that the “Chillax” application went through several test stages. Amna said: “We started by communicating with specialists in the field of mental health, and then created a prototype for the application to ensure the mechanism of work on it.

“We then made a tangible model by transforming the application into a website, which allowed a test run for visitors at the portal. We also conducted a questionnaire survey to study the feasibility of the application, and a study of the society's acceptance of the idea of the application.”

She stated that one of the most important features of the “Chillax: application over other similar applications is the presence of an array of options to solve psychological problems. “These include yoga, meditation, and interior designs. The last option has a major role in changing the individual’s psyche in terms of colour and furniture,” said Amna.

She pointed out that the team faced several difficulties in choosing specialists in the field of mental health. Amna said: “Besides that, we had to struggle to get a developer to create the application. The experience taught us how to deal with challenges and work on developing strategies to overcome them. We also realised the importance of keeping abreast with the latest developments and trends in the field of entrepreneurship, business and building a wide network of relationships.”

It is worth noting that the team participated in the competition of the company affiliated to Injaz Oman, and qualified for the final rounds along with 14 other teams.