A Codesign Approach for Conversational User Interfaces to Support College Students with Depression
Resumo
Introduction: The university context has demands that can increase the risk of depression and other mental disorders in students. Conversational User Interfaces (CUI) have been explored to support the prevention, diagnosis and therapy of people with depression. However, the design of these CUI, focused on college students, has not been deeply investigated. Objective: Based on this context, the objective of this paper is to propose a codesign approach for CUI to support college students with depression. Methodology: The Design Science Research method was used to propose, instantiate, and evaluate the design generated using the proposed approach. Results: The results suggest that the approach led to enjoyable CUI in this domain. Finally, some lessons learned are discussed.
Palavras-chave:
Chatbot design, Design approach, Design Science Research, Student well-being, Mental health
Referências
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Arino, D. O. e Bardagi, M. P. (2018). Relação entre fatores acadêmicos e a saúde mental de estudantes universitários. Psicologia em Pesquisa, 12:44 – 52.
Auerbach, R. P., Mortier, P., Bruffaerts, R., Alonso, J., Benjet, C., Cuijpers, P., Demyttenaere, K., Ebert, D. D., Green, J. G., Hasking, P., Murray, E., Nock, M. K., Pinder-Amaker, S., Sampson, N. A., Stein, D. J., Vilagut, G., Zaslavsky, A. M., Kessler, R. C., e WHO WMH-ICS Collaborators (2018). WHO World Mental Health Surveys International College Student Project: Prevalence and distribution of mental disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 127(7):623–638.
Baranauskas, M. C. C., Martins, M. C., e Valente, J. A. (2013). Codesign de Redes Digitais: Tecnologia e Educação a Serviço da Inclusão Social. Penso, 1ª edição edition.
Cardoso, P. d. F. (2022). Prevalência de ansiedade e depressão nos estudantes universitários do Brasil: uma revisão integrativa. Accepted: 2022-05-05T13:43:18Z Publisher: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3):319–340. Publisher: Management Information Systems Research Center, University of Minnesota.
Dresch, A., Lacerda, D., e Júnior, J. (2015). Design Science Research: Método de Pesquisa para Avanço da Ciência e Tecnologia. Bookman Editora.
Fitzpatrick, K. K., Darcy, A., e Vierhile, M. (2017). Delivering Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Young Adults With Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Using a Fully Automated Conversational Agent (Woebot): A Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Mental Health, 4(2):e7785. Company: JMIR Mental Health Distributor: JMIR Mental Health Institution: JMIR Mental Health Label: JMIR Mental Health Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc., Toronto, Canada.
Fragelli, T. B. O. e Fragelli, R. R. (2021). Por que estudantes universitários apresentam estresse, ansiedade e depressão? uma rapid review de estudos longitudinais. Revista Docência do Ensino Superior, 11:1–21.
Gabrielli, S., Rizzi, S., Bassi, G., Carbone, S., Maimone, R., Marchesoni, M., e Forti, S. (2021). Engagement and Effectiveness of a Healthy-Coping Intervention via Chatbot for University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mixed Methods Proof-of-Concept Study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 9(5):e27965.
Galvão, V. F., Maciel, C., e Garcia, A. C. B. (2019). Creating chatbots to talk with humans: HCI evaluations and perspectives. In Proceedings of the 18th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’19, pages 1–11, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Gupta, G. K. e Sharma, D. K. (2021). Depression detection on social media with the aid of machine learning platform: A comprehensive survey. In 2021 8th International Conference on Computing for Sustainable Global Development (INDIACom), pages 658–662.
He, Y., Yang, L., Zhu, X., Wu, B., Zhang, S., Qian, C., e Tian, T. (2022). Mental Health Chatbot for Young Adults With Depressive Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Single-Blind, Three-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(11):e40719. Company: Journal of Medical Internet Research Distributor: Journal of Medical Internet Research Institution: Journal of Medical Internet Research Label: Journal of Medical Internet Research Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc., Toronto, Canada.
Koulouri, T., Macredie, R. D., e Olakitan, D. (2022). Chatbots to support young adults’ mental health: An exploratory study of acceptability. ACM Trans. Interact. Intell. Syst., 12(2).
Kuhlmeier, F. O., Gnewuch, U., Lüttke, S., Brakemeier, E.-L., e Mädche, A. (2022). A personalized conversational agent to treat depression in youth and young adults – a transdisciplinary design science research project. In The Transdisciplinary Reach of Design Science Research: 17th International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology, DESRIST 2022, St Petersburg, FL, USA, June 1–3, 2022, Proceedings, page 30–41, Berlin, Heidelberg. Springer-Verlag.
Kumar, J. A. (2021). Educational chatbots for project-based learning: investigating learning outcomes for a team-based design course. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 18(1):65.
Li, Y. J. e Luo, H. I. (2021). Depression prevention by mutual empathy training: Using virtual reality as a tool. In 2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), pages 60–63.
Menegasso, P. V. G. (2021). Perceptions of Brazilian college students about ethics in computer-based data collection and interventions for mental health. Publisher: Universidade Federal de São Carlos.
Mustafa, S., Mohammed, E., Salih, A., Palani, K., Albushra, M., Makkawi, S., e Mustafa, A. (2024). A Qualitative Exploration of Acceptance of a Conversational Chatbot as a Tool for Mental Health Support among University Students in Sudan. International Journal of Medical Sciences and Nursing Research, 4:16–23.
Oghenekaro, L. U. e Okoro, C. O. (2024). Artifcial Intelligence-Based Chatbot for Student Mental Health Support. Open Access Library Journal, 11(5):1–14. Number: 5 Publisher: Scientific Research Publishing.
Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M., e Chatterjee, S. (2007). A design science research methodology for information systems research. Journal of Management Information Systems, 24:45–77.
Rodrigues, K. R. H., Bocanegra, L. F., Gonçalves, V. P., Carvalho, V. G., e Neris, V. P. A. (2014). Enriquecimento de personas para apoio ao design de Aplicações Terapêuticas para a Saúde mental. In Proceedings of the 13th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’14, pages 51–60. Sociedade Brasileira de Computação.
Santos, I. S., Tavares, B. F., Munhoz, T. N., Almeida, L. S. P. d., Silva, N. T. B. d., Tams, B. D., Patella, A. M., e Matijasevich, A. (2013). Sensibilidade e especificidade do Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) entre adultos da população geral. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 29:1533–1543. Publisher: Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz.
Serrano-Ripoll, M. J., Zamanillo-Campos, R., Fiol-De-Roque, M. A., Castro, A., e Ricci-Cabello, I. (2022). Impact of Smartphone App-Based Psychological Interventions for Reducing Depressive Symptoms in People With Depression: Systematic Literature Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 10(1):e29621.
Silva, E. P. d. (2021). Determinação social da saúde e sofrimento psíquico na universidade: uma pesquisa com estudantes do Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC) do campus da USP de São Carlos. Publisher: Universidade Federal de São Carlos.
Souza, P. M. d., Neris, V. P. d. A., Proença, F. R., e Garcia, F. E. (2022a). End-users in recovery from substance use disorders as designers of Personas and digital games with therapeutic potential. Journal on Interactive Systems, 13(1):243–256. Number: 1.
Souza, P. M. d., Pires, I. d. C., Motti, V. G., Caseli, H. M., Neto, J. B., Martini, L. C., e de Almeida Neris, V. P. (2022b). Design recommendations for chatbots to support people with depression. In Proceedings of the 21st Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’22, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Souza, P. M. d., Rodrigues, K. R. d. H., e de Almeida Neris, V. P. (2019). Semth: an approach to the design of therapeutic digital games. In Proceedings of the 18th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’19, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Tagarot, S. (2022). All The Feels: Building a Chatbot to Assist Students Struggling with Depression. Computer Science Honors Theses.
Whitaker, R. (2017). Anatomia de uma Epidemia: pílulas mágicas, drogas psiquiátricas e o aumento assombroso da doença mental. Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro.
Zaina, L., Prates, R. O., Silva, S. E. D., Choma, J., Valentim, N. M. C., Frigo, L. B., e Bicho, A. d. L. (2024). GranDIHC-BR 2025-2035 - GC7: Interaction with Emerging Technologies: An Ecosystem Integrating Humans, Technologies, and Contexts. In Proceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC ’24), New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Arino, D. O. e Bardagi, M. P. (2018). Relação entre fatores acadêmicos e a saúde mental de estudantes universitários. Psicologia em Pesquisa, 12:44 – 52.
Auerbach, R. P., Mortier, P., Bruffaerts, R., Alonso, J., Benjet, C., Cuijpers, P., Demyttenaere, K., Ebert, D. D., Green, J. G., Hasking, P., Murray, E., Nock, M. K., Pinder-Amaker, S., Sampson, N. A., Stein, D. J., Vilagut, G., Zaslavsky, A. M., Kessler, R. C., e WHO WMH-ICS Collaborators (2018). WHO World Mental Health Surveys International College Student Project: Prevalence and distribution of mental disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 127(7):623–638.
Baranauskas, M. C. C., Martins, M. C., e Valente, J. A. (2013). Codesign de Redes Digitais: Tecnologia e Educação a Serviço da Inclusão Social. Penso, 1ª edição edition.
Cardoso, P. d. F. (2022). Prevalência de ansiedade e depressão nos estudantes universitários do Brasil: uma revisão integrativa. Accepted: 2022-05-05T13:43:18Z Publisher: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3):319–340. Publisher: Management Information Systems Research Center, University of Minnesota.
Dresch, A., Lacerda, D., e Júnior, J. (2015). Design Science Research: Método de Pesquisa para Avanço da Ciência e Tecnologia. Bookman Editora.
Fitzpatrick, K. K., Darcy, A., e Vierhile, M. (2017). Delivering Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Young Adults With Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Using a Fully Automated Conversational Agent (Woebot): A Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Mental Health, 4(2):e7785. Company: JMIR Mental Health Distributor: JMIR Mental Health Institution: JMIR Mental Health Label: JMIR Mental Health Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc., Toronto, Canada.
Fragelli, T. B. O. e Fragelli, R. R. (2021). Por que estudantes universitários apresentam estresse, ansiedade e depressão? uma rapid review de estudos longitudinais. Revista Docência do Ensino Superior, 11:1–21.
Gabrielli, S., Rizzi, S., Bassi, G., Carbone, S., Maimone, R., Marchesoni, M., e Forti, S. (2021). Engagement and Effectiveness of a Healthy-Coping Intervention via Chatbot for University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mixed Methods Proof-of-Concept Study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 9(5):e27965.
Galvão, V. F., Maciel, C., e Garcia, A. C. B. (2019). Creating chatbots to talk with humans: HCI evaluations and perspectives. In Proceedings of the 18th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’19, pages 1–11, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Gupta, G. K. e Sharma, D. K. (2021). Depression detection on social media with the aid of machine learning platform: A comprehensive survey. In 2021 8th International Conference on Computing for Sustainable Global Development (INDIACom), pages 658–662.
He, Y., Yang, L., Zhu, X., Wu, B., Zhang, S., Qian, C., e Tian, T. (2022). Mental Health Chatbot for Young Adults With Depressive Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Single-Blind, Three-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(11):e40719. Company: Journal of Medical Internet Research Distributor: Journal of Medical Internet Research Institution: Journal of Medical Internet Research Label: Journal of Medical Internet Research Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc., Toronto, Canada.
Koulouri, T., Macredie, R. D., e Olakitan, D. (2022). Chatbots to support young adults’ mental health: An exploratory study of acceptability. ACM Trans. Interact. Intell. Syst., 12(2).
Kuhlmeier, F. O., Gnewuch, U., Lüttke, S., Brakemeier, E.-L., e Mädche, A. (2022). A personalized conversational agent to treat depression in youth and young adults – a transdisciplinary design science research project. In The Transdisciplinary Reach of Design Science Research: 17th International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology, DESRIST 2022, St Petersburg, FL, USA, June 1–3, 2022, Proceedings, page 30–41, Berlin, Heidelberg. Springer-Verlag.
Kumar, J. A. (2021). Educational chatbots for project-based learning: investigating learning outcomes for a team-based design course. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 18(1):65.
Li, Y. J. e Luo, H. I. (2021). Depression prevention by mutual empathy training: Using virtual reality as a tool. In 2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), pages 60–63.
Menegasso, P. V. G. (2021). Perceptions of Brazilian college students about ethics in computer-based data collection and interventions for mental health. Publisher: Universidade Federal de São Carlos.
Mustafa, S., Mohammed, E., Salih, A., Palani, K., Albushra, M., Makkawi, S., e Mustafa, A. (2024). A Qualitative Exploration of Acceptance of a Conversational Chatbot as a Tool for Mental Health Support among University Students in Sudan. International Journal of Medical Sciences and Nursing Research, 4:16–23.
Oghenekaro, L. U. e Okoro, C. O. (2024). Artifcial Intelligence-Based Chatbot for Student Mental Health Support. Open Access Library Journal, 11(5):1–14. Number: 5 Publisher: Scientific Research Publishing.
Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M., e Chatterjee, S. (2007). A design science research methodology for information systems research. Journal of Management Information Systems, 24:45–77.
Rodrigues, K. R. H., Bocanegra, L. F., Gonçalves, V. P., Carvalho, V. G., e Neris, V. P. A. (2014). Enriquecimento de personas para apoio ao design de Aplicações Terapêuticas para a Saúde mental. In Proceedings of the 13th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’14, pages 51–60. Sociedade Brasileira de Computação.
Santos, I. S., Tavares, B. F., Munhoz, T. N., Almeida, L. S. P. d., Silva, N. T. B. d., Tams, B. D., Patella, A. M., e Matijasevich, A. (2013). Sensibilidade e especificidade do Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) entre adultos da população geral. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 29:1533–1543. Publisher: Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz.
Serrano-Ripoll, M. J., Zamanillo-Campos, R., Fiol-De-Roque, M. A., Castro, A., e Ricci-Cabello, I. (2022). Impact of Smartphone App-Based Psychological Interventions for Reducing Depressive Symptoms in People With Depression: Systematic Literature Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 10(1):e29621.
Silva, E. P. d. (2021). Determinação social da saúde e sofrimento psíquico na universidade: uma pesquisa com estudantes do Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC) do campus da USP de São Carlos. Publisher: Universidade Federal de São Carlos.
Souza, P. M. d., Neris, V. P. d. A., Proença, F. R., e Garcia, F. E. (2022a). End-users in recovery from substance use disorders as designers of Personas and digital games with therapeutic potential. Journal on Interactive Systems, 13(1):243–256. Number: 1.
Souza, P. M. d., Pires, I. d. C., Motti, V. G., Caseli, H. M., Neto, J. B., Martini, L. C., e de Almeida Neris, V. P. (2022b). Design recommendations for chatbots to support people with depression. In Proceedings of the 21st Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’22, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Souza, P. M. d., Rodrigues, K. R. d. H., e de Almeida Neris, V. P. (2019). Semth: an approach to the design of therapeutic digital games. In Proceedings of the 18th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’19, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Tagarot, S. (2022). All The Feels: Building a Chatbot to Assist Students Struggling with Depression. Computer Science Honors Theses.
Whitaker, R. (2017). Anatomia de uma Epidemia: pílulas mágicas, drogas psiquiátricas e o aumento assombroso da doença mental. Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro.
Zaina, L., Prates, R. O., Silva, S. E. D., Choma, J., Valentim, N. M. C., Frigo, L. B., e Bicho, A. d. L. (2024). GranDIHC-BR 2025-2035 - GC7: Interaction with Emerging Technologies: An Ecosystem Integrating Humans, Technologies, and Contexts. In Proceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC ’24), New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Publicado
08/09/2025
Como Citar
DE SOUZA, Paula Maia; ALVES, Vanessa de Cássia; PIRES, Isabella da Costa; BLEICHER, Taís; GARCIA, Franco Eusébio; DA SILVA, Grasiane Cristina; NERIS, Vânia Paula de Almeida.
A Codesign Approach for Conversational User Interfaces to Support College Students with Depression. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO SOBRE FATORES HUMANOS EM SISTEMAS COMPUTACIONAIS (IHC), 24. , 2025, Belo Horizonte/MG.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2025
.
p. 1093-1115.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/ihc.2025.10757.
