Faculty from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), along with investigators from the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community (FISABIO), are spearheading the “Second Victims of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)” collaborative project. In this investigation, which is led by UMH professor, José Joaquín Mira Solves, various specialists have designed and launched a web portal and app that provides resources and material to mitigate acute stress in both the health and non-health professionals who are associated with the current health crisis.

This project, which is being conducted in collaboration with health professionals from different parts of Spain, compiles a series of reflections and recommendations to plan actions for the prevention of and approach to acute stress reactions in health workers and other support personnel due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. According to the investigators, the care pressures the coronavirus pandemic is causing, together with the extreme social alarm and working conditions, are producing an extreme scenario that requires action on preventing possible post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that all of this is going to cause en masse. Health professionals are being subjected to extraordinary and intense emotional and professional stresses.

The http://segundasvictimascovid19.umh.es/ website offers a battery of 19 resources to mitigate the acute stress associated with the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) crisis. These resources have been suggested as intervention proposals to respond to the needs that have been detected. For each need, different recommended proposals are listed.

For its part, the main function of the SER+ contra COVID (Spanish for “be more against coronavirus disease”) app, developed as one of the resources, is to serve as a self-assessment tool on the ability to cope with the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) crisis. Additionally, the app provides advice and recommendations, and encourages users to read positive news. The graphic material uploaded on the app can be downloaded and used without needing an Internet connection. What’s more, the content related to the sections of “Advice and Recommendations” and “Positive News” is constantly refreshed and expanded, so that it is always up to date on the latest advances and official information. Currently, the app can be downloaded for Android at http://lcsi.umh.es/segvic/ser_mas_app.apk, and it will soon be available for iOS and published on official Google Play and App Store channels.

The origin of the Second Victims concept predates the current situation; its start and development occurred during FIS and FEDER funds projects of reference PI13/0473 and PI13/01220, whose principal investigators were José Joaquín Mira Solves (Department of Health Psychology at the UMH) and Susana Lorenzo (Alcorcón Foundation University Hospital of Madrid).

The SER+ contra COVID app has been included among a repository of European mobile health initiatives, launched to help observe, analyze, and manage information about the COVID-19 pandemic.

This repository belongs to the European Knowledge and Innovation mHealth Hub project, which is promoted by the World Health Organization and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the United Nations, and is led by the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality. The European mHealth Hub is a site of reference in innovation and knowledge on mobile health for the European territories of the World Health Organization, which is comprised of 53 countries. Included among its objectives is facilitating the exchange and spread of digital innovations within the health systems of European countries. The mHealth solutions developed for COVID can be consulted at http://mhealth-hub.org/mhealth-solutions-against-covid-1. More specifically, the SER+ contra COVID app is found within the GOVERNMENTAL INITIATIVES section.

Lastly, the project’s website, https://segundasvictimascovid19.umh.es/, also publishes positive news about the evolution of the pandemic, and digital resources are shown on its Twitter account, @second_victims.