Oct 2026· Proceedings of the 14th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction· 0 citations· 74 references
TL;DR
It is found that PST is shaped by identity development and demographic factors, and the proposed Human-AI Self-Talk (HAIST) framework is proposed to guide the design of non-clinical AI companions to support learning and self-sufficiency.
Abstract
Young adults (aged 18–25) are prone to emotional and mental health struggles, with rumination that can manifest as negative self-talk. Positive self-talk (PST) can counteract this through reframing that promotes well-being. While the use of Large Language Models for mental health has increased, limited work promotes PST for young adults. To address this gap, we interviewed therapists (N = 11) to study how they foster positive self-talk and how these strategies might translate into human-AI interactions. We found that PST is shaped by identity development and demographic factors. Based on these findings, we propose the Human-AI Self-Talk (HAIST) framework to guide the design of non-clinical AI companions. We refined the framework with four AI-experts. Our findings indicate that rapport building can be supported through adaptation of users’ language, interactional style and operationalized through Dialogical Self-Theory. Our work operationalizes self-talk theories within an interactional framework to support learning and self-sufficiency.
Young adults of color (YOC) face heightened mental health challenges and barriers to care while navigating developmental and life transitions. Situated between youth-oriented safeguards and adult-oriented AI systems, little is known about how they use AI chatbots for mental health and well-being support or how sociocul...
Abstract People increasingly turn to conversational AI for companionship, emotional support, and well-being, using both purpose-built companion apps, such as Replika and Character.AI, and general-purpose assistants, such as ChatGPT and Claude. While some evidence suggests potential benefits, including short-term reduct...
Asia Maurich Novelli, S. Shergill, A. S. Teixeira· JMIR Mental Health· 0 citations
Testing how perceived synthetic relationships with the CA and narrative transportation relate to app engagement and perceived stress indicate that a strong sense of narrative transportation and perceiving the CA as friend-like positively predict hedonic benefits and future usage intentions and contribute to the emergin...
M. Tschopp, Stefan Klein, Christine Anderl et al.· Cyberpsychology: Journal of...· 0 citations
Many of the qualities that matter most in how people learn and grow, how someone regulates their emotions, reflects on a setback, or stays aware of others during a difficult conversation, are not directly observable. They have to be inferred from how someone speaks, moves, and sounds over time, and they resist the kind...
Siddhant Jain, Dimitra Tsovaltzi· Companion Publication of the...· 0 citations
Social isolation is a critical health concern for older adults—especially in institutional care, where limited social interaction is linked with depression, cognitive decline and poorer physical health. Empathetic human–robot interaction offers a promising avenue to address these emotional and mental health challenges....
María J. Pinto-Bernal, Kato Boels, Tony Belpaeme· ACM Transactions on Human-Ro...· 0 citations
Peer stories have been shown to boost self-efficacy in older adults'health behavior change. Despite their effectiveness, peer stories are difficult to deploy in health promotion at scale given the difficulty of matching the diverse health concerns and coping styles of heterogeneous older populations. Large language mod...
Kexin Quan, Precious Olalere, Smit Desai et al.· 0 citations
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