Exploring User Experience with a Conversational Agent to Treat Depression in Youth: A Think-Aloud Study

Conversational agents are a promising digital health intervention that can mitigate help-seeking barriers for youth with depression to receive treatment. Although studies have shown sufficient acceptance, feasibility, and promising effectiveness for adults, not much is known about how youth experience interacting with conversational agents to improve mental health. Therefore, we conducted an exploratory study with 15 youth with to collect data on their interaction with a conversational agent prototype using the think-aloud protocol. We coded the material from the think-aloud sessions using an inductive approach. Our findings provide insights into how youth with depression interacted with the prototype. Participants frequently and controversially discussed the conversational agent’s (1) personality and interaction style, (2) its functionality, and (3) the dialogue content with implications for the design of conversational agents to treat depression and future research

Grüße aus der "Sonderwelt"

Der Beitrag setzt sich mit Forderungen auseinander, die im Zusammenhang mit der UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention häufig in die Schließung der Werkstätten für behinderte Menschen münden. Der Beitrag will vor dem Hintergrund vielfältiger Erfahrungen und Beispiele Vorurteilen begegnen und Perspektiven zur Bedeutung von Werkstätten aufzeigen und somit auch ein Verstehen dieser besonderen Einrichtungen ermöglichen. Dabei verdeutlichen die beiden Autor:innen unter anderem auch Ansätze einer aktiven Öffentlichkeitsarbeit mit – statt über – Menschen mit Behinderung und ihre praktischen Erfahrungen in einer Einrichtung am Niederrhein. (DIPF/Orig.

The Impact of a Gamified Mobile Mental Health App (eQuoo) on Resilience and Mental Health in a Student Population: Large-Scale Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: With many digital mental health interventions failing to engage clients for enough time to demonstrate substantive changes to their well-being and with only 2% of all digital solutions on app stores having undergone randomized controlled trials, the rising demand for mental health prevention and early intervention care is not being met. Young adults in particular struggle to find digital well-being apps that suit their needs. OBJECTIVE: This study explored the effects of eQuoo, an evidence-based mental health game that teaches psychological skills through gamification, on resilience, depression, anxiety, and attrition in a student population. METHODS: In total, 1165 students from 180 universities in the United Kingdom participated in a 5-week, 3-armed randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomly allocated into 1 of 3 groups: eQuoo users, users of a treatment-as-usual evidence-based cognitive behavioral health app called Sanvello, and a no-intervention waitlist. The Rugged Resilience Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and Patient Health Questionnaire-8 were administered to all participants at baseline and every 7 days until completion. RESULTS: A repeated measures-ANOVA revealed statistically significant increases in resilience scores in the test group (P<.001) compared with both control groups (Sanvello: P=.10 and waitlist: P=.82) over 5 weeks. The app also significantly decreased anxiety and depression scores (both P<.001). With 64.5% (251/389) adherence, the eQuoo group retained 42% more participants than the control groups. CONCLUSIONS: Digital health interventions such as eQuoo are effective, scalable, and low-cost solutions for supporting young adults and are available on all leading mobile platforms. Further investigation could clarify the extent to which specific elements of the eQuoo app (including gamification) led to better outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) DRKS00027638; https://drks.de/search/en/trial/DRKS00027638

Centrifugal stretching from lifetime measurements in the 170Hf ground state band

Centrifugal stretching in the deformed rare-earth nucleus 170Hf is investigated using high-precision lifetime measurements, performed with the New Yale Plunger Device at Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory, Yale University. Excited states were populated in the fusion-evaporation reaction 124Sn(50Ti,4n)170Hf at a beam energy of 195 MeV. Recoil distance doppler shift data were recorded for the ground state band through the J=16+ level. The measured B(E2) values and transition quadrupole moments improve on existing data and show increasing β deformation in the ground state band of 170Hf. The results are compared to descriptions by a rigid rotor and by the confined β-soft rotor model. © 2013 American Physical Society

The threshold for the McGurk effect in audio-visual noise decreases with development

Across development, vision increasingly infuences audio-visual perception. This is evidenced in illusions such as the McGurk efect, in which a seen mouth movement changes the perceived sound. The current paper assessed the efects of manipulating the clarity of the heard and seen signal upon the McGurk efect in children aged 3–6 (n=29), 7–9 (n=32) and 10–12 (n=29) years, and adults aged 20–35 years (n=32). Auditory noise increased, and visual blur decreased, the likelihood of vision changing auditory perception. Based upon a proposed developmental shift from auditory to visual dominance we predicted that younger children would be less susceptible to McGurk responses, and that adults would continue to be infuenced by vision in higher levels of visual noise and with less auditory noise. Susceptibility to the McGurk efect was higher in adults compared with 3–6-year-olds and 7–9-yearolds but not 10–12-year-olds. Younger children required more auditory noise, and less visual noise, than adults to induce McGurk responses (i.e. adults and older children were more easily infuenced by vision). Reduced susceptibility in childhood supports the theory that sensory dominance shifts across development and reaches adult-like levels by 10 years of age

Sur les fréquences de valence -N=O dans les composés nitroso

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