Lopes, LaísCampos, Pedro2022-09-212022-09-212019Laís Lopes and Pedro Campos. 2019. SCAARF: A Subtle Conditioning Ap proach for Anxiety Relief Facilitation. In MUM 2019: 18th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia (MUM 2019), November 26–29, 2019, Pisa, Italy. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 5 pages. https://doi.org/ 10.1145/3365610.3368417http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/4636Anxiety disorders are one of the most prevalent mental health conditions, affecting more than 280 million people worldwide. This paper presents a novel approach to assistive technologies for mental health. In our approach, the paired combination of a wearable device — in the form of a scarf — and an accompanying mobile app, helps mitigate anxiety symptoms whenever they start to arise. This approach differs from conventional ubiquitous technologies developed for dealing with mental health, both in the role the mobile app plays in the process and in the way the intervention is delivered to users. SCAARF offers a more subtle, less obtrusive method for coping with anxiety. We discuss the results of an initial (three–week–long) evaluation of SCAARF with anxiety–suffering users. Qualitative results suggest that the SCAARF mobile app is effective in helping users relax and cope with anxious states of mind.engAnxiety disordersMental healthAssistive technologiesMobileWearableSubliminal.Faculdade de Ciências Exatas e da Engenhariaconference object10.1145/3365610.3368417