Saving Lives through Positive Thinking: A Virtue Ethics Chatbot for Depressed Young Adults
Keywords
Loading...
Authors
Issue Date
2023-01-27
Language
en
Document type
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Title
ISSN
Volume
Issue
Startpage
Endpage
DOI
Abstract
Suicide is a devastating and complex issue that affects people of all ages and backgrounds, but
is especially prevalent among young adults. Suicidal behavior consists of several phases. Due
to the complexity of this phenomenon, we decided to focus on early suicide ideation, in which
we found depression to be the most robust predictor. In this thesis we focus on the potential role
of positive thinking to reduce early suicide ideation, as positive thinking can decrease the
incidence of depression. We do this by providing design recommendations for a chatbot
intervention. To be able to formulate these, an ethical analysis on positive thinking was
performed, followed by a psychological analysis to gain a better understanding of positive
thinking and how it is typically acquired. This resulted in a recommendation that a chatbot
design should contain a preselection, have a culturally-adaptive and social-influence based
approach, use goal-setting, use positive emotion regulatory strategies and use cognitive
behavioral therapy techniques. These recommendations combined with automated formulationbased
tailoring and monitoring features should result in a well-tailored and efficacious
supplementary tool for mental health care professionals, which cultivates positive thinking and
in turn reduces depression and early suicide ideation.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen