Therapeutic virtual reality (VR) can be a tool, platform or experience imaginary in the healthcare setting. Emotions and affective interaction are integral to the care needs and experiences in digital healthcare, yet remain under-investigated in therapeutic VR. We reflect on four cases involving therapeutic VR to critically examine the function and value of affective interaction. Through a synthesis of the cases, we identify how affective interaction can enhance or diminish healthcare outcomes and even cause potential harm. We draw five recommendations for the design and evaluation of therapeutic VR to challenge assumptions about: (1) knowledge holders and knowledge co-production in design, (2) hyper-visiblity of medical gaze and invisibility of affective experiences, (3) diverse utilities of VR, (4) weaving assessment of affective benefits and harms into evaluation of therapeutic VR, and (5) implementation of therapeutic VR in collaboration with caregivers.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713800
In a society where mental health issues are prevalent, engagement with psychotherapy remains low due to stigma and accessibility barriers. Telepsychotherapy offers a potential solution but holds challenges, including difficulties in encouraging open self-disclosure and ease of access. In this paper, we introduce CounselAR, an augmented reality (AR)-mediated therapy service designed to facilitate one-on-one therapy sessions by allowing both client and therapist to use AR filters to maintain varying degrees of anonymity. Through a six-week field deployment involving nine clients and four therapists, we explored how AR-mediated therapy might support psychotherapy from both the clients’ and therapists' perspectives. The results illustrate the potential role of AR filters in enhancing self-disclosure, building rapport, and lowering entry barriers to psychotherapy. Drawing on these findings, we discuss the nuanced role of AR filters and the implications of leveraging AR in psychotherapy.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713387
As mental health concerns grow among Asian American communities, there is an urgent need for culturally-relevant support. While digital mental health treatments (DMHTs) offer new opportunities for interventions, they have largely been focused on non-minority populations in the U.S. (e.g., Caucasians, females, who are middle-aged). Through co-design sessions with Asian Mental Health Collective (AMHC), this study examines the unique mental health challenges faced by Asian Americans, intergenerational connections and elements of culturally-relevant mental health support. The co-design sessions resulted in two prototypes: A multifunctional community hub, to strengthen connections and resource access, and a storytelling app, for sharing and preserving cultural narratives. These prototypes drew from community co-design sessions to include elements of storytelling, community-centered approaches, and intergenerational engagement in addressing mental health concerns among Asian Americans. Leveraging the heterogeneous and similar cultural experiences among Asian Americans, this paper presents and discusses nuances and considerations for digital mental health technology (DMHT) designs for minority communities.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3714142
Stress is an inevitable part of day-to-day life yet many find themselves unable to manage it themselves, particularly when professional or peer support are not always readily available. As self-care becomes increasingly vital for mental well-being, this paper explores the potential of social simulation as a safe, virtual environment for practicing in-the-moment stress relief for everyday social situations. Leveraging the immersive capabilities of VR, AR, and LLMs to create realistic interactions and environments, we developed eight interactive prototypes for various stress related scenarios (e.g. public speaking, interpersonal conflict) across design dimensions of modality, interactivity, and mental health guidance in order to conduct prototype-driven semi-structured interviews with 19 participants. Our qualitative findings reveal that people currently lack effective means to support themselves through everyday stress and perceive social simulation -- even at low immersion and interaction levels -- to fill a gap for practical, controlled training of} mental health practices. We outline key design needs for developing social simulation for self-care needs, and identify important considerations including risks of trauma from hyper-realism, distrust of LLM-recommended timing for mental health recommendations, and the value of accessibility for self-care interventions.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713115
Anxiety and depression rates in Computer Science (CS) students are double those of other undergraduates and 5-10 times higher than the general population. However, factors contributing to the elevated mental health issues in CS students remain unknown. To bridge this gap, we conducted need-finding interviews (N=20), which revealed that the complexity of debugging, along with imposter syndrome, are key contributors to stress and burnout. Participants expressed openness toward and feature preferences in a computer-based Personal Informatics (PI) tool to facilitate self-reflection. In response, we developed EmotionStream, an algorithm-assisted PI tool that provides both contextual and emotional insights based on individual behaviors. We found that participants rated their experience with the tool highly. Post-hoc analysis revealed that emotional states, augmented with contextual cues, show promise of predicting real-time stress. Based on our findings, we provide design implications for future PI tools to support CS student mental well-being.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713269
Personal informatics (PI) systems have been utilized to help individuals manage health issues such as stress by leveraging insights from self-tracking data. However, PI users may struggle to develop effective coping strategies because factors influencing stress are often difficult to change in practice, and multiple factors can contribute to stress simultaneously. In this study, we introduce CounterStress, a PI system designed to assist users in identifying contextual changes needed to address high-stress situations. CounterStress employs counterfactual explanations to identify and suggest alternative contextual changes, offering users actionable strategies to achieve a desired state. We conducted both lab-based and field user studies with 12 participants to evaluate the system's usability and applicability, focusing on the benefits of counterfactual-based coping strategies, how users select viable strategies, and their real-world applications. Based on our findings, we discuss design implications for effectively leveraging counterfactuals in PI systems to support users' stress-coping planning.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713730
Technology plays a dual role in our daily lives, both contributing to heightened stress levels and offering potential solutions for stress management. However, the lived experience of stress in everyday contexts remains underexplored, leaving a critical gap in our understanding of how stress manifests and how technology can effectively support stress management. To address this, we conducted user interviews and expert interviews with specialists in psychology, health, and stress research, complemented by an autoethnographic study. Our findings show the complexity of stress as both a subjective experience and a response shaped by socio-technical environments, leading to the construction of the Dual Model for Everyday Stress Technology. This model highlights the paradoxical nature of stress and its management in technology-mediated settings. We identify key directions for future stress-management technology design and research, with implications for creating meaningful, human-centred technologies for managing stress in everyday life.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713174