Abstract
Mental health has direct effects on the well-being of those who are suffering from the problems as well as indirectly affects surrounding people. Although mental health care is essential there is a limitation in accessibility to mental health care. This is because of many reasons including the inadequacy of mental health professions. The implication of mental health technology is essential because it can increase accessibility and assist mental health professionals’ work. Mental health chatbot is one of the most appropriate mental health technologies as it is convenient to use and can be used anytime, anywhere with high privacy. Although it is one of the most convenient mental health technologies, there is a huge limitation in developing mental health chatbot. It requires technology experts, AI experts, software developers, and experienced psychologists to develop one chatbot. Developing a chatbot is also time and budget consuming throughout the process. As a consequence, it is practically challenging for mental health organizations to successfully develop mental health chatbots. For this reason, this project determines to solve this limitation by developing a tool to help mental health providers to be able to develop their own chatbots without coding, AI, or software development background. This results in increasing numbers of mental health chatbots which will increase mental health care accessibility, decrease mental health problems and reduce national mental health care resources and budget. This project runs from 1 4 February 2021 to 14 February 2022. There are 21 mental health organizations take part in this project. In total, there are 53 participant consist of psychologists and technician who develop mental health chatbots using this AI Psychological Intervention Open Platform as of the following; Completely developed and published 1. Bangkok Navy Hospital has developed BNH HAPPY NAVY chatbot on Line Official to provide service to Clients for Bangkok Navy Hospital. 2. Department of Education, Suan Dusit University developed SDU Wellness Center on Facebook Page Suan Dusit University developed SDU Wellness Center to provide service to Student for Suan Dusit University 3. The Demonstration School of Muban Chombueng Rajabhat University developed งานแนะแนว รร.สาธิตฯ จอมบึง on Facebook Page งานแนะแนว รร.สาธิตฯจอมบึง to provide service to student. 4. Psychology Department, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University developed chatbot TCAPS center on Facebook Page TCAPS center to provide service to Student for Suan Dusit University for Thamamasat University. Development in progress 1. Nan Hospital is developing Nan Sook Jai chatbot on Line Official account to provide service to Clients for Nan Hospital. 2. Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital is developing NongHug on Line Official account 3. Mental Health Center 7 Khonkaen is developing Mental Health Center 7 chatbot on Line Official account to provide service to people are interested in mental health care. 4. Chiangmai Neurological Hospital is developing memory clinic CMNeuro chatbot on Facebook Page to provide service to Chiangmai Neurological Hospital Clients. 5. Chiang Mai University Demonstration School is developing Hoo Kwang CMUD chatbot on Facebook Page to provide service to Chiang Mai University Demonstration School Student. 6. Student Development Division of Chiangmai University is developing Sook Jai center Chatbot on Line Official Account to provide service to Chiangmai University Student. 7. Yuwaprasart Waithayopathum Child and Adolescent is developing ‘Grow’ chatbot on Psychiatric Hospital on Line Official Account to provide service to parents or caregivers who have child behaviour management. 8. Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna is developing Mental Health Care chatbot on Facebook page ดูแลสุขภาพใจ มทร. ล้านนา to provide service to Rajamangala University student. 9. Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University is developing chatbot to provide service to Clients. ( have not connected to the platform yet) 10. Institute of Aviation Medicine, Royal Thai Air Force is developing chatbot to provide service to Institute of Aviation Medicine officer (have not connected to the platform yet) 11. Suan Prung Hospital is developing chatbot to provide service to Suan Prung hospital Client (have not connected to the platform yet) 12. Department of Education, Chiang Rai Rajabhat University is developing chatbot to provide service to (have not connected to the platform yet) 13. Kanchanaburi Juvenile and Family Court is developing chatbot to provide service to youths who get a trail. (have not connected to the platform yet) 14. Medical Services Division, Department of Corrections is developing chatbot to provide service to inmates. (have not connected to the platform yet) 15. Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University is developing chatbot to provide service to associated medical sciences students. (have not connected to the platform yet) 16. King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi is developing chatbot to provide service to King Mongkut's University Student. (have not connected to the platform yet) It can be seen that this platform has successfully increase the number of mental health chatbot in a short period of time which help saving resources including budget, time and human resources. Furthermore, a randomized control trial was conducted to examine the effects of mental health chatbot applying CBT in comparison to chitchat chatbot which were developed using this platform. Participants’ stress level was measured before and after taking part. 21 participants took part in the study ( control group n= 7, experiment group n = 14). Participants were asked to use the chatbot for 14 days. Results show that after using the chatbot, the stress level of both groups were decrease. However, as this is pilot study and drop out rate was high, further study is needed. Although generalizability of the result is limited, it is still be able to point out that chatbot develop using this platform is beneficial. Mental health organizations that take part in this project can potentially conduct further research with their target groups. Based on the 21 organizations reports the result of using this platform, although there are limitations such as workload, unfamiliarity with technology, high learning curve, but most of which are satisfied with the platform and with taking part in this projects. The reasons for such satisfactions includes excellent support from the team, user friendly experience, and practicality of the platform. They also suggest that the project should be extended to support participants longer as well as support more organizations. Given the project outcomes and feedback received from the 21 organizations that take part in this projects, researchers suggest that this project has a potential for continuous development and improvement. Such suggestion can be done by inviting more organization to develop AI mental health chatbot using this platform, collecting data to develop AI models in mental health area, creating appointment system as well as sharing data for mental health big data and ecosystem in Thailand.
