User Experiences of Well-Being Chatbots

Abstract

Objective The current paper conducted two parallel studies to explore user experiences of well-being conversational agents (CAs) and identify important features for engagement. Background Students transitioning into university life take on greater responsibility, yet tend to sacrifice healthy behaviors to strive for academic and financial gain. Additionally, students faced an unprecedented pandemic, leading to remote courses and reduced access to healthcare services. One tool designed to improve healthcare accessibility is well-being CAs. CAs have addressed mental health support in the general population but have yet to address physical well-being support and accessibility to those in disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds where healthcare access is further limited. Method Study One comprised a thematic analysis of mental health applications featuring CAs from the public forum, Reddit. Study Two explored emerging usability themes of an SMS-based CA designed to improve accessibility to well-being services alongside a commercially available CA, Woebot. Results Study One identified several themes, including accessibility and availability, communication style, and anthropomorphism as important features. Study Two identified themes such as user response modality, perceived CA role, question specificity, and conversation flow control as critical for user engagement. Conclusion Various themes emerged from individuals’ experiences regarding CA features, functionality, and responses. The mixed experiences relevant to the communication and conversational styles between the CA and the user suggest varied motivations for using CAs for mental and physical well-being. Application Practical recommendations to encourage continued use include providing dynamic response modalities, anthropomorphizing the chatbot, and calibrating expectations early.

Literature Review on the Double-Edged Sword of Ai in Mental Health: A Deep Dive Into Chatgpt's Capabilities and Limitations

“…Regardless of the hour or the day, ChatGPT remains accessible, making it a crucial tool especially for those undergoing crisis moments, where timely intervention is paramount. The undeniable advantage here is its non-reliance on human availability, sidestepping issues like time zones or working hours, which could impede timely support (Chagas et al, 2023;Kettle & Lee, 2023). However, while its promptness is revolutionary, ChatGPT's role should be understood as a bridge rather than a destination.…”

A Framework of Vehicle-Human Communication Features at Traffic Intersections to Enhance Trust and Situation Awareness

“…Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006) with similar methodology to Kettle and Lee (2023). Four researchers independently reviewed 200 randomly selected comments each and identified emerging themes for communication features for discussion.…”

The Experience of Conversation and Relation with a Well-Being Chabot: Between Proximity and Remoteness

“…Those moments can also bring to the human interlocutor a sense of alienation. The first such experience is when both Woebot and Wysa are repetitive in a conversation (Fitzpatrick, Darcy, Vierhile 2017;Inkster, Sarda, and Subramanian 2018;Beatty et al 2022;Legaspi Jr. et al 2022;Kettle and Lee 2023). A user's engagement in a conversation with a virtual companion, even if it presents itself as a virtual entity, can come with expectations of communication, which, from the point of view of a human interlocutor, should be as fluid and reciprocal as possible.…”

“…The commentary written in 1966 stressed: "If [ELIZA-JW] method proves beneficial, then it would provide a therapeutic tool which can be made widely available to mental hospitals and psychiatric centers suffering of a shortage of therapists…several patients an hour could be handled by a computer system" (Colby, Watt, andGilbert 1966:152 as cited in Weizenbaum 1976:181). The contemporary scientific discussions of the relationship between a human and a chatbot offering therapeutic and social support to the user touches, among other issues, on the invaluable support that such a composed AI can provide to individuals facing difficulties in accessing traditional (face-to-face) therapeutic assistance (Inkster, Sarda, and Subramanian 2018;Kretzschmar et al 2019;Denecke, Abd-Alrazaq, and Househ 2021;Sweeny et al 2021;Kettle and Lee 2023). It certainly is not the case that well-being chatbots can replace human therapists and human companions.…”

“…Thus, if something becomes part of an individual's experience, it also becomes part of the world of everyday life and continues as the real world. a recent social experience, the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the aspect of isolation and limitation of face-to-face human relationships, has influenced the greater popularity of that form of human-chatbot relationship (Inkster et al 2020;Boucher et al 2021;Torous et al 2021;Laestadius et al 2022;Legaspi Jr. et al 2022;Kettle and Lee 2023). Third, the aspect of strangeness and the experience of alienation that can arise in the relationship between a human and an AI…”