Seven New Strategic Basic Research Programs Selected for FY2021: Social Technology Research and Development

The Japan Science and Technology Agency (President Michinari Hamaguchi) announced that seven new projects have been selected for the Strategic Basic Research Programs for FY2021, promoted by the Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society (RISTEX). Proposals were solicited for the Solution-Driven Co-creative R&D Program for SDGs (Preventing Social Isolation & Loneliness and Creating Diversified Social Networks) established in the same fiscal year, yielding 78 submissions. Prof. Mitsuhiro Ura (Otemon Gakuin University) oversees the programs.

The following summarizes the adopted programs along with research representatives and outlines.

◇ "Tackling Loneliness and Social Isolation Using Crisis Chat and Text Services," Michiko Ueda (Associate Professor, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics): This project seeks to understand the actual situation of high-risk groups by analyzing consultation content submitted through social network services to better understand the realities and mechanisms of loneliness and isolation and facilitate effective countermeasures. In addition, a several -year follow-up survey with the general public and an international comparative survey focusing on the concept of relational mobility will be conducted. Since loneliness involves stigma (discrimination, prejudice, disrepute, etc.), survey subjects do not always honestly declare feelings of loneliness; thus, potential feelings of loneliness will be measured using the IAT (implicit association test), leading to effective intervention. Ultimately, the results will be verified through large-scale anonymous text analysis of social network service consultations. Development and implementation of changes will be carried out to improve social network service consultation systems.

◇ "Building Community-based "Anywhere Door" -type Hybrid Care Networks" Naoki Kondo (Professor, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University): The project uses longitudinal Internet survey data of 30,000 people to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on children, youth, and women in terms of social isolation and loneliness, as well as health and livelihood. Based on these findings, a children, youth, and women version of the conventional support data system for supporters was developed. The separately developed "Guide for Supporting Community Development in Harmony with Residents" and the "Face-to-Face Social Resource Map Including Local Residents" will be updated to connect to the system, and a system will be constructed to present an effective support plan according to the type of supporter.

◇ "Clarification of Generation Process of Social Isolation and Developing the Intervention Program for Social Isolation Towards Healthy "Personal Independence" Hirokazu Tachikawa (Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba): The project will clarify the generation process of social isolation and loneliness, to develop appropriate intervention methods that reduce the stigma of isolation as well as prevent exacerbation on a community basis. In addition, potential and tangible metrics for stigma (thought to promote social isolation), and applications that can be used on smartphones and other devices in the case of COVID-19, were developed. Through large-scale online experiments, the cognitive characteristics of socially isolated people have been identified. Preventative interventions to enable individuals to continue healthy, self-reliant lives will be developed and community-based effectiveness verified.

◇ "Analysis of the Process of Loneliness and Isolation in the Workplace: Toward the Development of a Comprehensive Prevention Program" Yutaka Matsui (Senior Researcher, R&D Center for Working Persons' Psychological Support, Tsukuba University): In this project, isolation and loneliness are not directly linked to problems of early retirement or mental health, but they rather become a problem when factors such as "I am not useful (sense of role)" and "I feel uncomfortable (sense of security)" are added. Grasping these temporal changes is important to prevent loneliness and isolation in the workplace. The following items are being developed: subjective indicators of loneliness and isolation; prevention charts themed with experiences of loneliness and isolation since joining a company to date; an implicit association test (FIL-qIAT) triggered by sentences representing loneliness and isolation; and a tool to measure four indicators of the isolation detection Stroop problem. A program that visualizes loneliness and isolation processes is being developed to provide support when there are signs.

◇ "Prevention of Isolation and Loneliness through Fostering Compassionate Community Using Theatrical Methods" Hajime Mushiake (Professor, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University): This project aims to foster empathetic communities using applied theatrical techniques. To begin with, the social emotional skills necessary for understanding others will be cultivated, together with creating educational programs that combine applied drama with scientific human understanding, foster rich communities, and cultivate facilitators for such programs. Furthermore, the risks of isolation and loneliness will be evaluated by developing a multidimensional scale evaluation method that combines various personality traits, physiological indices, and qualitative surveys of human formation.

◇ "Loneliness in New Life: Visualization of Risks and Primary Prevention" Kuniaki Yanagisawa (Lecturer, Graduate School of Humanities, Kobe University): This project recognizes that while social isolation and loneliness are known to negatively affect mental and physical health conditions, risk verification has hardly been conducted. Current feelings of loneliness and future loneliness risks will be visualized together with an aim to develop loneliness countermeasures based on scientific evidence. First, individual-level factors that define feelings of loneliness will be clarified from multi-faceted data such as web surveys and experiments, fMRI experiments, social network service data, wearable terminal data, etc. A large-scale web survey of university students and adults will be conducted to identify group-level factors such as the characteristics of universities and companies, and changes in business conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on these results, a detector to predict individual loneliness risks will be developed using machine learning, and effective measures for loneliness prevention will be clarified.

◇ "Developing a School-centered System to Prevent Social Isolation, Loneliness and Exclusion of All Children" Noriko Yamano (Professor, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University): This project recognizes issues such as "children cannot raise their voices and people around them do not notice," and "school organizations put the burden on the teachers"; which are related to children's social isolation, loneliness, and social exclusion. The vision is to realize a sustainable social system that can provide peace of mind to children.

Accordingly, the projects aim to achieve the following goals: first, the creation of an environment in which children do not have to feel ashamed of poverty; second, the establishment of a system in which teachers are not forced to cope with poverty on their own; and third, enabling schools to know and utilize local resources. To this end, AI screening that can be used in schools will be engaged. A backup system will be built through the establishment of networks among educational administrations, teachers, and school social workers.