Best Practices for Designing Chatbots in Mental Healthcare – A Case Study on iHelpr

Abstract

This paper outlines the design and development of a chatbot called iHelpr for mental healthcare that 1) administers self-assessment instruments/scales, 2) provides wellbeing and self-help guidance and information, all within a conversational interface. Chatbots are becoming more prevalent in our daily lives, with bots available to provide the user with daily weather forecasts, book holidays, and even converse with a virtual therapist. It is predicted that users may soon prefer to complete tasks using a conversational interface that are traditionally done through a webpage or mobile application. In the context of mental healthcare, demand exceeds supply, waiting lists are ever growing, and populations in rural communities still struggle to access mental healthcare. Chatbots can be utilised to improve and broaden access to mental healthcare. When designing chatbots for mental healthcare, there are further considerations, such as managing risk and ethical considerations. Furthermore, usability and the design of conversational flow are important factors to consider when developing chatbots for any domain. This paper outlines best practices and experiences extrapolated from developing the iHelpr chatbot.

Contributors

Gillian Cameron

David Cameron

Gavin Megaw

Raymond Bond

Maurice Mulvenna

Siobhan O’Neill

Cherie Armour

Michael McTear

Conference

Publication date: July 2018

Publication date (Print): July 2018

Pages: 1-5

Affiliations

Ulster University

Belfast, N. Ireland

Inspire Workplaces

Belfast, N. Ireland

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.129

Copyright statement: © Cameron et al. Published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd. Proceedings of British HCI 2018. Belfast, UK.

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI

Conference number: 32

Conference location: Belfast, UK

Conference date: 4 - 6 July 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Human Computer Interaction Conference

Product

Product Information: 1477-9358BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.129

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

Categories

Series title: Electronic Workshops in Computing