Strangers in a Strange Land: Designing a Mobile Application to Combat Loneliness and Isolation Among Foreign University
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BRIEF REPORT
Strangers in a Strange Land: Designing a Mobile Application to Combat Loneliness and Isolation Among Foreign University Students Rogério Augusto Bordini 1 & Johann-Christoph Münscher 2 & Kim Annabell Baumgartner 1 & Sara Hagos 1 & Jennifer Hornig 1 & Stefano Gampe 1 & Berkay Yaman 1 & Oliver Korn 1 & Philipp Yorck Herzberg 2 Received: 3 June 2020 / Revised: 22 August 2020 / Accepted: 28 September 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Objectives A report from the World Economic Forum (2019) stated loneliness as the third most prevalent societal stressor in the world. This psychological strain, which was recently classified as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and more dangerous than obesity (CIGNA 2018), can also increase the risk of depression and other mental disorders due to the negative impacts on physical, mental, and social health (Cacioppo et al. 2002; Hawkley et al. 2003). Moreover, research shows that loneliness tends to be experienced more severely by young adults than other age groups (Rokach 2000). This is the case with students who face profound periods of loneliness when attending university in a new place (Diehl et al. 2018). A global survey conducted by Sodexo (2017) with 4027 students (aged from 18 to 25) from six countries (China, India, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the USA) reported that around a third of the participants (32%) said they experienced loneliness at university. A cross-national study with university students found associations between loneliness and subjective health status, such as sleeping problems, tobacco use, aggressive behavior, injury, and sexual risk behavior (Peltzer and Pengpid 2017). Furthermore, students have become even more affected by loneliness due to the absence of face-toface contact caused by the social isolation measures adopted to reduce the COVID-19 spread (Elmer et al. 2020). Besides facing stress factors in academic life such as teachers’ pressure for achieving good grades, acceptance difficulties in social circles, and the fear of professional failure, * Rogério Augusto Bordini [email protected] 1
Offenburg University, Offenburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
2
Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany
foreign students tend to face additional obstacles. They need to deal with a foreign language, finances, accommodation, day-to-day living problems, racial discrimination, personal autonomy, and the recreation of identity in a new setting, which can make them more susceptible to loneliness (Baker and Siryk 1986). Sawir et al. (2007) conducted a security investigation with 200 international students from more than 30 different nations in an Australian institution. The authors stated that international students were more likely to experience cultural loneliness, which is triggered by the absence of the preferred cultural and/or linguistic environment. Sawir et al. (2007) and Vasileiou et al. (2018) suggested that creating stronger bonds among international and local students in the educational setting is a possible solution to a forward move on
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