A Therapy System for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Using a Virtual Agent and Virtual Storytelling to Reconstruct Traumatic Memories

Although post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is well treatable, many people do not get the desired treatment due to barriers to care (such as stigma and cost). This paper presents a system that bridges this gap by enabling patients to follow therapy at home. A therapist is only involved remotely, to monitor progress and serve as a safety...

How should a virtual agent present psychoeducation?: Influence of verbal and textual presentation on adherence

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:<br/>With the rise of autonomous e-mental health applications, virtual agents can play a major role in improving trustworthiness, therapy outcome and adherence. In these applications, it is important that patients adhere in the sense that they perform the tasks, but also that they adhere to the specific recommendations...

A Virtual Agent for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder with a high impact on quality of life, and despite the existence of treatment, barriers still stop many people from receiving the care they need. An e-mental health system for home use might remove some of these barriers, as it provides a privacy-sensitive and accessible way of following...

Considering patient safety in autonomous e-mental health systems - Detecting risk situations and referring patients back to human care

Background: Digital health interventions can fill gaps in mental healthcare provision. However, autonomous e-mental health (AEMH) systems also present challenges for effective risk management. To balance autonomy and safety, AEMH systems need to detect risk situations and act on these appropriately. One option is sending automatic alerts to...

Misalignment in Semantic User Model Elicitation via Conversational Agents: A Case Study in Navigation Support for Visually Impaired People

Disabled people can benefit greatly from assistive digital technologies. However, this increased human-machine symbiosis makes it important that systems are personalized and transparent to users. Existing work often uses data-oriented approaches. However, these approaches lack transparency and make it hard to influence the system’s behavior. In...

Acquiring Semantic Knowledge for User Model Updates via Human-Agent Alignment Dialogues

For personal assistive technologies to effectively support users, they need a user model that records information about the user, such as their goals, values, and context. Knowledge-based techniques can model the relationships between these concepts, enabling the support agent to act in accordance with the user's values. However, user models...