Keywords

1 Introduction

South Korea has the highest suicide rate among the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). An average of 29.1 people per 100,000 in Korea took their own lives in 2012, far surpassing the OECD average of 12, according to the OECD Health Data 2015. Hungary followed with 19.4 and Japan came next with 18.7 [1]. Furthermore, Suicide was also the No. 1 cause of death among teens and young people in Korea in 2011, with the suicide rate rising over the past decade, according to a report by Statistics Korea. The suicide rate per 100,000 for those aged 9–24 stood at 9.4, up from 5.3 in 2001. Between 2000 and 2010, the rate for youngsters aged 10 to 24 in OECD countries fell to 7.7 per 100,000 from 6.5, while that for South Koreans in the same age range soared 47 percent to 9.4 from 6.4, taking the fifth spot among the 34 member nations [2].

According to the result of sixth Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey, 19.1 % of the total participants (72,623 of total adolescents aged 13~18years old) had experienced suicidal ideation and 4.9 % actually attempted suicide [1]. The suicide attempts in adolescence, in particular, have been suggested to be important indicators of suicide in adulthood. Therefore, the timely strategies of suicide prevention for adolescents is important to reduce the risk of suicide effectively.

There are several reasons that may lead to high youth suicide rate in Korea. First, adolescence itself can be a very turmoil period which causes the highest suicide attempt, compared to other developmental stages [3]. Second, lack of social service programs may lead to high suicide among adolescents. Korea Youth Counseling & Welfare Institute reported when Korean youth wanted to talk to someone about suicide, about 59 % of youth indicated that they could not find anyone to talk to. Third, it is well reported that adolescents have tendencies to confide in friends rather than helping professionals [4]. Therefore, approaching them with a traditional counseling method can be less effective (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
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Suicide rate in OECD

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2 Related Works

2.1 Smart, Positive, Active, Realistic, X-Factor Thoughts (SPARX)

SPARX was developed by a team of University of Auckland adolescent depression specialists. And the software was designed by Auckland-based Media Interactive. This is a fantasy role-playing game designed to teach young people suffering from depression ways they can manage and overcome their condition. In the game, the player is the hero entrusted with the task of defeating the darkness and gloom that has engulfed the world. Players could learn ways of dealing with real-world problems by engaging with characters in the game. There is an in-game virtual guide who talks to the player and explains how they can apply the lessons learned in the game to real-life situations [7] (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
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Screenshots from SPARX

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2.2 Beyond the Front (BTF)

Beyond the Front was developed by Lnincoln University and WILL Interactive. The BTF is a combination of interactive movie and computer game that will serve as a role-playing exercise for Army soldier. The game stars a fictional soldier, Specialist Kyle Norton who is suddenly experiencing a number of personal problems. During the video, questions appear on the screen at key moments, asking the player to decide whether to get help. Depending on the choices, Norton will feel better or sink deeper into suicidal thoughts. The goal is to immerse the viewer into Norton’s life in a way that makes preventive lessons stick [5] (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.
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Screenshots from BTF

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3 Immersive Gatekeeper Training System

In this paper, we proposed an innovate gatekeeper training system designed for students using HMD (Head Mounted Display) for the purpose of suicide prevention. This system provides an interactive and engaging virtual worlds to enhance the learning experience. In the immersive virtual environment, students can learn the common signs of psychological distress and how to refer troubled students to the counseling center (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4.
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System overview

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To enhance the learning experience, immersive simulated conversation and realistic emotional communication are provided like the below figure. Using virtual reality technology, we will provide a practice‐based training simulation for students who can feel a sense of presence within a virtual world (Figs. 5 and 6).

Fig. 5.
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Simulated conversation and emotional communication

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Fig. 6.
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3D classroom for virtual environment

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3.1 Simulated Conversation

In the system, students engage in a simulated conversation with a virtual student who shows signs of depression, suicidal thoughts and anxiety. The system allows participants make decision for player character by choosing what specific things to ask or answer. The simulated conversations in the system are realistic representations of conversations they had or likely to have with troubled students in Korea (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7.
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Simulated conversation with text and audio speech

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In our work, we are using head-mounted display (HMD) which allows the user to deeply immerse themselves into the virtual worlds. HMDs allows the user to look around the virtual environment using natural head motion by binding the orientation of the virtual camera to the orientation of the user’s head. In this immersive virtual world, participants can practice having conversations with virtual character using open-ended questions, reflective listening and other motivational interviewing techniques. During conversation, participants receive corrective feedback on their decisions with constructive criticism. By practicing speaking with virtual character, the training increases participants’ confidence and ability to handle similar read-life situations.

3.2 Emotional Communication

The proposed system aims to provide a fully animated and emotionally responsive virtual character that acts and responds like a real student exhibiting signs of psychological distress. Engaging in simulated conversations, the virtual character will present behaviors associated with depression, substance abuse, aggression and suicidal thoughts. For realistic virtual character, we implement 3D facial animation and naturalistic interaction. The movements of a real person’s face and speech are captured at the same time. Then, these data are converted to build facial animations of 3D virtual character. For the naturalistic interaction, eye contacts and head nods are implemented by using head-tracking data from HMD. These forms of nonverbal interaction provide important social and emotional information during the simulated conversation (Figs. 8, 9 and 10).

Fig. 8.
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Making facial animation of virtual character

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Fig. 9.
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Gesture animation of virtual character

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Fig. 10.
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Title screenshot and example of study wearing HMD

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4 Conclusion

This paper presented an interactive role-playing simulation for gatekeeper training. Students enter a virtual world and engage in a conversation with a virtual character who are fully animated and emotionally responsive. In the role-play scenarios, students practice and learn how to identify, approach, and refer troubled students by means of choosing dialogue options that appear on-screen. After completing the training, students will be better equipped to identify and correct common misconceptions about counseling.

Finding cost-effective solutions for suicide prevention and outreach program can be a challenge. We believe that the use of innovative and creative technology for suicide prevention programs can help to address these issues and promote widespread prevention and intervention. For example, there are effective programs, with cognitive behavioral therapy recommended as the preferred treatment for mild to moderate depressive disorder. However, fewer than a fifth of young people with depressive disorder receive treatment.