Let’s talk! speaking virtual counselor offers you a brief intervention

Yasavur, Ugan; Lisetti, Christine L.; Rishe, Naphtali

doi:10.1007/s12193-014-0169-9

Cited by 33 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Numerous studies have been conducted to assess different aspects of using chatbots for mental health, such as effectiveness [15,16], acceptability [14,17], usability [18,19], and adoption [20,21]. Bringing this evidence together is very important to inform mental health providers and users about the main features of chatbots and their potential uses, and to inform future research about the main gaps of the previous literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An overview of the features of chatbots in mental health: A scoping review

Abd‐Alrazaq

Alajlani

Alalwan

et al. 2019

International Journal of Medical Informatics

359

188

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An overview of the features of chatbots in mental health: A scoping review

Abd‐Alrazaq

Alajlani

Alalwan

et al. 2019

International Journal of Medical Informatics

359

188

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The latter may be classified as behavior change support systems (BCSS), aiming to change unhealthy behavior patterns. Such systems can be developed for a range of different disorders such as substance abuse [7], anxiety [8], depression [9], or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [10]. For the success of such BCSS for mental health, the users need to stay motivated to use the system, because behavior change is difficult [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Evaluation of Personalized Motivational Messages by a Virtual Agent that Assists in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Therapy

Tielman¹,

Neerincx²,

Brinkman³

2019

J Med Internet Res

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Background Systems incorporating virtual agents can play a major role in electronic-mental (e-mental) health care, as barriers to care still prevent some patients from receiving the help they need. To properly assist the users of these systems, a virtual agent needs to promote motivation. This can be done by offering motivational messages. Objective The objective of this study was two-fold. The first was to build a motivational message system for a virtual agent assisting in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) therapy based on domain knowledge from experts. The second was to test the hypotheses that (1) computer-generated motivating messages influence users’ motivation to continue with therapy, trust in a good therapy outcome , and the feeling of being heard by the agent and (2) personalized messages outperform generic messages on these factors. Methods A system capable of generating motivational messages was built by analyzing expert (N=13) knowledge on what types of motivational statements to use in what situation. To test the 2 hypotheses, a Web-based study was performed (N=207). Participants were asked to imagine they were in a certain situation, specified by the progression of their symptoms and initial trust in a good therapy outcome. After this, they received a message from a virtual agent containing either personalized motivation as generated by the system, general motivation, or no motivational content. They were asked how this message changed their motivation to continue and trust in a good outcome as well as how much they felt they were being heard by the agent . Results Overall, findings confirmed the first hypothesis, as well as the second hypothesis for the measure feeling of being heard by the agent. Personalization of the messages was also shown to be important in those situations where the symptoms were getting worse. In these situations, personalized messages outperformed general messages both in terms of motivation to continue and trust in a good therapy outcome . Conclusions Expert input can successfully be used to develop a personalized motivational message system. Messages generated by such a system seem to improve people’s motivation and trust in PTSD therapy as well as the user’s feeling of being heard by a virtual agent. Given the importance of motivation, trust, and therapeutic alliance for successful therapy, we anticipate that the proposed system can improve adherence in e-mental therapy for PTSD and that it can provide a blueprint for the development of an adaptive system for persuasive messages based on expert input.

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“…A few agents have also been developed that provide brief health interventions for individuals with substance misuse problems. For example, Yasavur, et al, developed a virtual agent the provides brief intervention for individuals with alcohol use disorder [34]. However, the system has yet to be evaluated in a clinical trial for actual impact on alcohol consumption behavior.…”

Section: Substance Use Counseling By Virtual Agentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Substance Use Screening using Virtual Agents

Bickmore

Rubin

Simon

2020

Proceedings of the 20th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents

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Alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use cause significant loss quality of life, and represent a large economic burden on society. Standardized questionnaires have been developed to enable healthcare providers to screen individuals for substance misuse problems that may require intervention. Although routine use of these screeners is promoted in many healthcare organizations, their administration can be irregular and lack follow through. In addition, patients may be reluctant to report substance use. We report on the development and validation of a Virtual Agent designed to automate the administration of a standard substance use screening instrument. We report on two validation studies in which a total of 57 patients at a US Veterans Administration medical center were screened by the virtual agent, comparing first to a research assistant administering the standard screening questionnaire, and second to a standard computerized text-based implementation of the questionnaire. Assessment correlations between the agent and human administration were all significant, ranging from rho=0.83 to 0.94, with more disclosure to the agent. Correlations were lower for Study 2 (0.56-0.88), with participants significantly more satisfied with the Agent compared to the standard tool.

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Let’s talk! speaking virtual counselor offers you a brief intervention

Cited by 33 publications

References 41 publications

An overview of the features of chatbots in mental health: A scoping review

An overview of the features of chatbots in mental health: A scoping review

Design and Evaluation of Personalized Motivational Messages by a Virtual Agent that Assists in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Therapy

Substance Use Screening using Virtual Agents

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