Skip to main content

Towards the Development of a Trustworthy Chatbot for Mental Health Applications

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12573))

Abstract

Research on conversational chatbots for mental health applications is an emerging topic. Current work focuses primarily on the usability and acceptance of such systems. However, the human-computer trust relationship is often overlooked, even though being highly important for the acceptance of chatbots in a clinical environment. This paper presents the creation and evaluation of a trustworthy agent using relational and proactive dialogue. A pilot study with non-clinical subjects showed that a relational strategy using empathetic reactions and small-talk failed to foster human-computer trust. However, changing the initiative to be more proactive seems to be welcomed as it is perceived more reliable and understandable by users.

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

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
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

Notes

  1. 1.

    Ref. no.823907, https://menhir-project.eu.

References

  1. Aoyama, K., Shimomura, H.: Real world speech interaction with a humanoid robot on a layered robot behavior control architecture. In: Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 3814–3819. IEEE (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Baraglia, J., Cakmak, M., Nagai, Y., Rao, R., Asada, M.: Initiative in robot assistance during collaborative task execution. In: The Eleventh ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction, pp. 67–74. IEEE Press (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bhugra, D.: Attitudes towards mental illness: a review of the literature. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 80(1), 1–12 (1989)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bickmore, T., Cassell, J.: Small talk and conversational storytelling in embodied conversational interface agents. In: AAAI Fall Symposium on Narrative Intelligence, pp. 87–92 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bickmore, T.W., Picard, R.W.: Establishing and maintaining long-term human-computer relationships. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. (TOCHI) 12(2), 293–327 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Brave, S., Nass, C., Hutchinson, K.: Computers that care: investigating the effects of orientation of emotion exhibited by an embodied computer agent. Int. J. Hum Comput Stud. 62(2), 161–178 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bretschneider, J., Kuhnert, R., Hapke, U.: Depressive symptoms among adults in Germany. J. Health Monit. 2, 77–83 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Brooke, J.: SUS: a “quick and dirty’ usability. In: Usability Evaluation in Industry, p. 189 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Cassell, J., Bickmore, T.: Negotiated collusion: modeling social language and its relationship effects in intelligent agents. User Model. User-Adapted Interact. 13(1–2), 89–132 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Ciechanowski, L., Przegalinska, A., Magnuski, M., Gloor, P.: In the shades of the uncanny valley: an experimental study of human-chatbot interaction. Future Gener. Comput. Syst. 92, 539–548 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Davidovi, Š., Guliani, K.: Reliable cron across the planet. Queue 13(3), 30–39 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Denecke, K., Vaaheesan, S., Arulnathan, A.: A mental health chatbot for regulating emotions (SERMO)-concept and usability test. IEEE Trans. Emerg. Top. Comput. 1, 1 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1109/TETC.2020.2974478

  13. 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)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hoffman, M.L.: Empathy and Moral Development: Implications for Caring and Justice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ischen, C., Araujo, T., Voorveld, H., van Noort, G., Smit, E.: Privacy concerns in chatbot interactions. In: Følstad, A., Araujo, T., Papadopoulos, S., Law, E.L.-C., Granmo, O.-C., Luger, E., Brandtzaeg, P.B. (eds.) CONVERSATIONS 2019. LNCS, vol. 11970, pp. 34–48. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39540-7_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. James, S.L., et al.: Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2017. Lancet 392(10159), 1789–1858 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Jian, J.Y., Bisantz, A.M., Drury, C.G.: Foundations for an empirically determined scale of trust in automated systems. Int. J. Cogn. Ergon. 4(1), 53–71 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Karrer, K., Glaser, C., Clemens, C., Bruder, C.: Technikaffinität erfassen-der fragebogen TA-EG. Der Mensch im Mittelpunkt technischer Systeme 8, 196–201 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Kraus, M., Fischbach, F., Jansen, P., Minker, W.: A comparison of explicit and implicit proactive dialogue strategies for conversational recommendation. In: Proceedings of the 12th Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, pp. 429–435 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kraus, M., Wagner, N., Minker, W.: Effects of proactive dialogue strategies on human-computer trust. In: Proceedings of the 28th ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization, pp. 107–116 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Laranjo, L., et al.: Conversational agents in healthcare: a systematic review. J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc. 25(9), 1248–1258 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Lee, J., Moray, N.: Trust, control strategies and allocation of function in human-machine systems. Ergonomics 35(10), 1243–1270 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Lee, J.D., See, K.A.: Trust in automation: designing for appropriate reliance. Hum. Factors 46(1), 50–80 (2004)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  24. Linden, M., Hautzinger, M.: Verhaltenstherapiemanual, vol. 8. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  25. 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)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Madsen, M., Gregor, S.: Measuring human-computer trust. In: 11th Australasian Conference on Information Systems, vol. 53, pp. 6–8. Citeseer (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Mattar, N., Wachsmuth, I.: Small talk is more than chit-chat. In: Glimm, B., Krüger, A. (eds.) KI 2012. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 7526, pp. 119–130. Springer, Heidelberg (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33347-7_11

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  28. McTear, M., Callejas, Z., Griol, D.: The Conversational Interface, vol. 6. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32967-3

    Book  Google Scholar 

  29. Merritt, S.M., Heimbaugh, H., LaChapell, J., Lee, D.: I trust it, but i don’t know why: effects of implicit attitudes toward automation on trust in an automated system. Hum. Factors 55(3), 520–534 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Miehle, J., Ostler, D., Gerstenlauer, N., Minker, W.: The next step: intelligent digital assistance for clinical operating rooms. Innov. Surg. Sci. 2(3), 159–161 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Moray, N., Inagaki, T., Itoh, M.: Adaptive automation, trust, and self-confidence in fault management of time-critical tasks. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 6(1), 44 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Muir, B.M.: Trust in automation: Part i. theoretical issues in the study of trust and human intervention in automated systems. Ergonomics 37(11), 1905–1922 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Organization, W.H.: Mental Health Atlas 2017. World Health Organization (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Parker, S.K., Bindl, U.K., Strauss, K.: Making things happen: a model of proactive motivation. J. Manag. 36(4), 827–856 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Parker, S.K., Wang, Y., Liao, J.: When is proactivity wise? A review of factors that influence the individual outcomes of proactive behavior. Ann. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav. 6, 221–248 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Pragst, L., Ultes, S., Kraus, M., Minker, W.: Adaptive dialogue management in the kristina project for multicultural health care applications. In: Proceedings of the 19thWorkshop on the Semantics and Pragmatics of Dialogue (SEMDIAL), pp. 202–203 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Rau, P.L.P., Li, Y., Liu, J.: Effects of a social robot’s autonomy and group orientation on human decision-making. Adv. Hum.-Comput. Interact. 2013, 11 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Reese, W.: Nginx: the high-performance web server and reverse proxy. Linux J. 2008(173) (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Rotter, J.B.: Interpersonal trust, trustworthiness, and gullibility. Am. Psychol. 35(1), 1 (1980)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  40. Stanton, N.A., Walker, G.H., Young, M.S., Kazi, T., Salmon, P.M.: Changing drivers’ minds: the evaluation of an advanced driver coaching system. Ergonomics 50(8), 1209–1234 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. 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)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Watson, D., Clark, L.A., Tellegen, A.: Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 54(6), 1063 (1988)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 823907 (MENHIR: Mental health monitoring through interactive conversations https://menhir-project.eu).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthias Kraus .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Kraus, M., Seldschopf, P., Minker, W. (2021). Towards the Development of a Trustworthy Chatbot for Mental Health Applications. In: Lokoč, J., et al. MultiMedia Modeling. MMM 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12573. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67835-7_30

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67835-7_30

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-67834-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-67835-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics