Facilitating Giving and Receiving Support in Existing Social Groups with a Journaling Chatbot

A chatbot was designed to promote positive mental health by facilitating giving and receiving support within existing social groups. Surveys and interviews were conducted to evaluate the suitability of journaling prompts for use by the chatbot. A 2-week in-the-wild study was conducted with 4 groups...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wong, Andrew D.
Other Authors: Maes, Pattie
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2022
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139285
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author Wong, Andrew D.
author2 Maes, Pattie
author_facet Maes, Pattie
Wong, Andrew D.
author_sort Wong, Andrew D.
collection MIT
description A chatbot was designed to promote positive mental health by facilitating giving and receiving support within existing social groups. Surveys and interviews were conducted to evaluate the suitability of journaling prompts for use by the chatbot. A 2-week in-the-wild study was conducted with 4 groups of 4-6 friends (n=20). Twice a week, the chatbot asked a personal question to a group, collected and shared answers among that group, then directed each user to respond to another user’s answer. Exit interviews indicated that: (1) some chatbot interactions led to later interactions outside of the chatbot, (2) participants learned new things about their group members, even those they had other frequent contact with (3) the social aspect of the chatbot affected user's responses to journaling prompts. Prestudy and post-study survey results suggest that, after using the chatbot for two weeks, individuals felt closer to their social group and enjoyed sharing updates with their friends and families more. Based on these results, the presented chatbot could be used to encourage meaningful social interactions that may not happen spontaneously and strengthen existing social relationships.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1392852022-01-15T03:55:11Z Facilitating Giving and Receiving Support in Existing Social Groups with a Journaling Chatbot Wong, Andrew D. Maes, Pattie Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science A chatbot was designed to promote positive mental health by facilitating giving and receiving support within existing social groups. Surveys and interviews were conducted to evaluate the suitability of journaling prompts for use by the chatbot. A 2-week in-the-wild study was conducted with 4 groups of 4-6 friends (n=20). Twice a week, the chatbot asked a personal question to a group, collected and shared answers among that group, then directed each user to respond to another user’s answer. Exit interviews indicated that: (1) some chatbot interactions led to later interactions outside of the chatbot, (2) participants learned new things about their group members, even those they had other frequent contact with (3) the social aspect of the chatbot affected user's responses to journaling prompts. Prestudy and post-study survey results suggest that, after using the chatbot for two weeks, individuals felt closer to their social group and enjoyed sharing updates with their friends and families more. Based on these results, the presented chatbot could be used to encourage meaningful social interactions that may not happen spontaneously and strengthen existing social relationships. M.Eng. 2022-01-14T15:01:30Z 2022-01-14T15:01:30Z 2021-06 2021-06-17T20:14:48.802Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139285 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright MIT http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Wong, Andrew D.
Facilitating Giving and Receiving Support in Existing Social Groups with a Journaling Chatbot
title Facilitating Giving and Receiving Support in Existing Social Groups with a Journaling Chatbot
title_full Facilitating Giving and Receiving Support in Existing Social Groups with a Journaling Chatbot
title_fullStr Facilitating Giving and Receiving Support in Existing Social Groups with a Journaling Chatbot
title_full_unstemmed Facilitating Giving and Receiving Support in Existing Social Groups with a Journaling Chatbot
title_short Facilitating Giving and Receiving Support in Existing Social Groups with a Journaling Chatbot
title_sort facilitating giving and receiving support in existing social groups with a journaling chatbot
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139285
work_keys_str_mv AT wongandrewd facilitatinggivingandreceivingsupportinexistingsocialgroupswithajournalingchatbot