Product Design to Help Reduce Behavioral Stress Caused by Pandemic Viral Infections (Case Study: Coronavirus disease)

Today, human societies are facing various phenomena, including the outbreak of viral diseases such as corona, with the spread of which many people in society suffer from behavioral stresses such as frequent hand washing. The authors of the present paper believe that the designers can reduce these obsessive behaviors with the help of product design. The methodology of the research in this article is descriptive-cross-sectional, and is going to examine the relationship between product design and behavioral stress reduction. First, “the need for disinfecting tools” was hypothesized based on the observations, subsequently the users were provided with some disinfecting tools and their feedback was examined. Due to the current situation regarding coronavirus outbreak and limits for group gatherings in public places, as well as the high cost of manufacturing the designed product, testing in real-life situations was not possible, therefore only questionnaires using the 7-point Likert scale and online surveys were administered. This study resulted in a product design for environmental disinfection, which won international medals. Thus, this paper strives to illuminate the relationship between product design and behavioral stress caused by the outbreak of viral infections such as Coronavirus disease. With regards to the Covid-19 outbreak throughout the world and the transmission speed of the coronavirus which survives on surfaces,  people in different societies feel the need to somehow protect themselves against this virus by wearing gloves and regular hand-washing. A great number of people, however, test positive every day despite such precautions. As infectious diseases outbreak continues to spread, fear and anxiety start ruling lives of many people in society and such behaviors may damage the entire society if they keep lasting. Designing a space-saving, portable product that utilizes modern technology to disinfect different surfaces like elevator buttons, subway train handles, debit cards, and so forth will remarkably help societies in the current situation. The coordination between product design and stress relief is not accidental and demands engineering skills plus a high level of creativity, and this is what matters in industrial design. As defined by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), industrial design is the professional practice of developing ideas for designing products with optimal performance. In this descriptive- cross-sectional study, observation and questionnaires, as well as non-probability sampling, have been employed to collect data. The sample size was estimated at 322 people based on the Morgan table. First, the behavior of the people was carefully studied in one environment and “the need for disinfecting tools” was hypothesized based on the observations and collected data, subsequently the users were provided with some disinfecting tools and their feedback was examined. Due to the coronavirus outbreak and limits for group gatherings in public places, as well as the high cost of manufacturing the designed product, testing in real-life situations was not possible, therefore only questionnaires and online surveys were used. The target population, from which the sample was drawn, has been identified by administering the questionnaire to the audience through web pages and further circulation among other groups. Given that long questionnaires may bore the audience, only a few brief questions using the 7-point Likert scale were designed and the results were analyzed in Microsoft Excel using Cronbach's Alpha. The research data were obtained from field surveys and library resources. Also, the International Federation of Inventors' Associations website was explored and the designs for portable disinfecting products were collected. With respect to the facts mentioned in this paper and the conducted studies, it seems that product design could be effective in managing behaviors such as stress. However, interventional studies are required for substantiating a claim like this. It would be a great contribution to human societies if the designers could be able to design a product for viral infections outbreaks which absolutely guarantees disinfection of the surroundings.