Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Workshop on Chatbot Research and Design

CONVERSATIONS 2019: Chatbot Research and Design pp 113–126Cite as

Designing Chatbots for Guiding Online Peer Support Conversations for Adults with ADHD

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 11970))

Abstract

This paper presents an exploratory study of how conversational interfaces can be used to facilitate peer support among adults with ADHD participating in an online self-help program. Peer support is an important feature of group therapy, but it is often disregarded in online programs. Using a research-through-design approach, a low fidelity chatbot prototype named Terabot was designed and evaluated. The goal of Terabot is to guide participants through peer support conversations related to a specific exercise in an online self-help program. The prototype was evaluated and refined through two Wizard of Oz (WoOz) trials. Based on design workshops, analysis of chat logs, data from online questionnaires and an evaluation interview, the findings indicate that the concept of a chatbot guiding a peer support conversation between adults with ADHD who participate in an online self-help program is a promising approach. We believe that a chatbot can help establishing structure, predictability and encouragement in a peer support conversation. This study contributes with experiences from an exploration of how to design conversational interfaces for peer support in mental health care, how conversational interfaces can facilitate peer support through structuring conversation, and how the WoOz approach can be used to inform the design of chatbots.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Abd-alrazaq, A.A., Alajlani, M., Alalwan, A.A., Bewick, B.M., Gardner, P., Househ, M.: An overview of the features of chatbots in mental health: a scoping review. Int. J. Med. Informatics 132, 103978 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2019.103978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Alcazar-Corcoles, M.A., González-Blanch, C., Bendall, S., McGorry, P.D., Gleeson, J.F.: Online, social media and mobile technologies for psychosis treatment: a systematic review on novel user-led interventions. Schizophr. Res. 156(1), 96–106 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2014.03.021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5, 5th edn. Technical report, American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Baumeister, H., Reichler, L., Munzinger, M., Lin, J.: The impact of guidance on Internet-based mental health interventions – a systematic review. Internet Interv. 1(4), 205–215 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2014.08.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Bickmore, T.W., Utami, D., Matsuyama, R., Paasche-Orlow, M.K.: Improving access to online health information with conversational agents: a randomized controlled experiment. J. Med. Internet Res. 18(1), e1 (2016). https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.5239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Braun, V., Clarke, V.: What can “thematic analysis" offer health and wellbeing researchers? Int. J. Qual. Stud. Health Well-being 9(1) (2014). https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v9.26152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Cameron, G., et al.: Assessing the usability of a chatbot for mental health care. In: Bodrunova, S., et al. (eds.) INSCI 2018. LNCS, vol. 11551, pp. 121–132. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17705-8_11

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Clark, J.: Medicalization of global health 2: the medicalization of global mental health. Global Health Action 7(1), 24000 (2014). https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v7.24000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Dahlbäck, N., Jönsson, A., Ahrenberg, L.: Wizard of Oz studies – why and how. Knowl.-Based Syst. 6(4), 258–266 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1016/0950-7051(93)90017-N

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Doherty, G., Coyle, D., Sharry, J.: Engagement with online mental health interventions: an exploratory clinical study of a treatment for depression. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI 2012, pp. 1421–1430. ACM, New York (2012). https://doi.org/10.1145/2207676.2208602

  11. Dohsaka, K., Ryota, A., Higashinaka, R., Minami, Y., Maeda, E.: Effects of conversational agents on human communication in thought-evoking multi-party dialogues. In: Proceedings of SIGDIAL 2009: the 10th Annual Meeting of the Special Interest Group in Discourse and Dialogue, pp. 217–224. Association for Computational Linguistics, London (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Elmasri, D., Maeder, A.: A conversational agent for an online mental health intervention. In: Ascoli, G.A., Hawrylycz, M., Ali, H., Khazanchi, D., Shi, Y. (eds.) BIH 2016. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 9919, pp. 243–251. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47103-7_24

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Eysenbach, G., Powell, J., Englesakis, M., Rizo, C., Stern, A.: Health related virtual communities and electronic support groups: systematic review of the effects of online peer to peer interactions. BMJ 328(7449), 1166 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7449.1166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Faulkner, A., Basset, T.: A helping hand: taking peer support into the 21st century. Mental Health Soc. Inclusion 16(1), 41–47 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1108/20428301211205892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Fitzpatrick, K.K., Darcy, A., Vierhile, M.: Delivering cognitive behavior therapy to young adults with symptoms of depression and anxiety using a fully automated conversational agent (Woebot): a randomized controlled trial. JMIR Mental Health 4(2), e19 (2017). https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.7785

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Følstad, A., Brandtzæg, P.B.: Chatbots and the new world of HCI. Interactions 24(4), 38–42 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1145/3085558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Følstad, A., Skjuve, M., Brandtzaeg, P.B.: Different chatbots for different purposes: towards a typology of chatbots to understand interaction design. In: Bodrunova, S.S., et al. (eds.) INSCI 2018. LNCS, vol. 11551, pp. 145–156. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17705-8_13

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  18. Håvik, R., Wake, J.D., Flobak, E., Lundervold, A., Guribye, F.: A conversational interface for self-screening for ADHD in adults. In: Bodrunova, S.S., et al. (eds.) INSCI 2018. LNCS, vol. 11551, pp. 133–144. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17705-8_12

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  19. Hurvitz, N.: Peer self-help psychotherapy groups and their implications for psychotherapy. Psychother: Theory, Res. Pract. 7(1), 41–49 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1037/h0086549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Lucas, G.M., et al.: Reporting mental health symptoms: breaking down barriers to care with virtual human interviewers (2017). https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2017.00051

  21. Ly, K.H., Ly, A.M., Andersson, G.: A fully automated conversational agent for promoting mental well-being: a pilot RCT using mixed methods. Internet Interv. 10, 39–46 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2017.10.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Mead, S., Hilton, D., Curtis, L.: Peer support: a theoretical perspective. Psychiatr. Rehabil. J. 25(2), 134–141 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1037/h0095032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Mohr, D.C., Cuijpers, P., Lehman, K.: Supportive accountability: a model for providing human support to enhance adherence to ehealth interventions. J. Med. Internet Res. 13(1), e30 (2011). https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Naslund, J.A., Aschbrenner, K.A., Marsch, L.A., Bartels, S.J.: The future of mental health care: peer-to-peer support and social media. Epidemiol. Psychiatr. Sci. 25(2), 113–122 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796015001067

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. O’Leary, K., Schueller, S.M., Wobbrock, J.O., Pratt, W.: “Suddenly, we got to become therapists for each other": designing peer support chats for mental health. In: CHI 2018 Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, p. e331. ACM, Montreal (2018). https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173905

  26. Philipsen, A.: Psychotherapy in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: implications for treatment and research. Expert Rev. Neurother. 12(10), 1217–1225 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1586/ern.12.91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Seering, J., Luria, M., Kaufman, G., Hammer, J.: Beyond dyadic interactions: considering chatbots as community members. In: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2019, pp. 450:1–450:13. ACM, New York (2019). https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300680

  28. Solberg, B.S., Haavik, J., Halmøy, A.: Health care services for adults with ADHD: patient satisfaction and the role of psycho-education. J. Atten. Disord. 23(1), 99–108 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054715587941

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Solomon, P.: Peer support/peer provided services underlying processes, benefits, and critical ingredients. Psychiatr. Rehabil. J. 27(4), 392–401 (2005). https://doi.org/10.2975/27.2004.392.401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Sonne, T., Marshall, P., Obel, C., Thomsen, P.H., Grønbæk, K.: An assistive technology design framework for ADHD. In: Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction, OzCHI 2016, pp. 60–70. ACM, New York (2016). https://doi.org/10.1145/3010915.3010925

  31. Tielman, M., Neerincx, M., van Meggelen, M., Franken, I., Brinkman, W.P.: How should a virtual agent present psychoeducation? Influence of verbal and textual presentation on adherence. Technol. Health Care 25(6), 1081–1096 (2017). https://doi.org/10.3233/THC-170899

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Vaidyam, A.N., Wisniewski, H., Halamka, J.D., Kashavan, M.S., Torous, J.B.: Chatbots and conversational agents in mental health: a review of the psychiatric landscape. Can. J. Psychiatry 64(7), 456–464 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743719828977

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Yang, Q., Cranshaw, J., Amershi, S., Iqbal, S.T., Teevan, J.: Sketching NLP: a case study of exploring the right things to design with language intelligence. In: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI 2019. ACM, Glasgow (2019). https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300415

  34. Zimmerman, J., Forlizzi, J., Evenson, S.: Research through design as a method for interaction design research in HCI. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI 2007, pp. 493–502. ACM, New York (2007). https://doi.org/10.1145/1240624.1240704

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Oda Elise Nordberg, Jo Dugstad Wake, Eivind Flobak & Frode Guribye

  2. Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway

    Suresh Kumar Mukhiya

  3. Division of Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway

    Emilie Sektnan Nordby & Tine Nordgreen

Authors
  1. Oda Elise Nordberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jo Dugstad Wake
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Emilie Sektnan Nordby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Eivind Flobak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Tine Nordgreen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Suresh Kumar Mukhiya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Frode Guribye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oda Elise Nordberg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. SINTEF, Oslo, Norway

    Asbjørn Følstad

  2. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Theo Araujo

  3. CERTH-ITI, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Symeon Papadopoulos

  4. University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Effie Lai-Chong Law

  5. University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway

    Ole-Christoffer Granmo

  6. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Ewa Luger

  7. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Petter Bae Brandtzaeg

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Nordberg, O.E. et al. (2020). Designing Chatbots for Guiding Online Peer Support Conversations for Adults with ADHD. In: Følstad, A., et al. Chatbot Research and Design. CONVERSATIONS 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11970. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39540-7_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39540-7_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39539-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39540-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation