Psychological first aid models during the COVID-19 Outbreak The role of InfoCommunication Technologies Nelson Mauro Maldonato Department of Neuroscience and Reproductive and Odontostomatological Sciences University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy nelsonmauro.maldonato@unina.it Cristiano Scandurra Department of Neuroscience and Reproductive and Odontostomatological Sciences University of Naples Federico II Naples, Italy cristiano.scandurra@unina.it Alessia Lipardi Intradepartmental Program of Clinical Psychology Federico II University Hospital, Naples, Italy lipardialessia11@gmail.com Alessandro Chiodi Intradepartmental Program of Clinical Psychology Federico II University Hospital Naples, Italy alessandrochiodi@libero.it Salvatore De Lucia Intradepartmental Program of Clinical Psychology Federico II University Hospital, Naples, Italy salvator.delucia@gmail.com Grazia Isabella Continisio Continuing Medical Education Unit School of Medicine Federico II University Hospital Naples, Italy continis@unina.it Valentina Luccarelli Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Communication University of Bari Aldo Moro Bari, Italy valentina.luccarelli@gmail.com Mario Bottone Department of Neuroscience and Reproductive and Odontostomatological Sciences University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy bottone.mario@fastwebnet.it Marzia Duval Department of Neuroscience and Reproductive and Odontostomatological Sciences University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy duval@unina.it Benedetta Muzii Department of Humanistic studies University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy benedetta.muzii@unina.it Abstract—In few months, COVID-19 outbreak, lockdown and social distancing have led an exponential increase in levels of psychological distress within the population. In the face of such conditions, the need to ensure continuity of mental health services emerged concurrently with the need of a substantial intervention reconfiguration. This paper is aimed at addressing the knowledge gained from telepsychological interventions during the COVID- 19 outbreak peak to identify new research lines originating from the limits encountered during interventions. This has relevant implications even for the development of new IC technologies, and more generally for the scope and goals of CogInfoCom. Keywords— COVID-19, telepsychology, communication, conversational agents, mental health I. INTRODUCTION The wide diffusion of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) and the consequent quarantine have produced significant challenges for social fabric, welfare and health care systems [1]. Data reported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) [2] indicate that, from 31 December 2019 until 30 June 2020, 10 273 001 cases were infected by the SARSCoV-2 worldwide, including 505 295 deaths. In Europe, 2 427 670 cases have been reported, including 191 411 deaths. Social isolation experienced as a preventive measure to block the spread of the SARSCoV-2 has been lived worldwide as a highly significant experience; indeed, the obligation to stay at 11th IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Infocommunications – CogInfoCom 2020 • September 23-25, 2020 • Online on MaxWhere 3D Web © IEEE 2020. This article is free to access and download, along with rights for full text and data mining, re-use and analysis 000283