Considering patient safety in autonomous e-mental health systems - Detecting risk situations and referring patients back to human care

Background: Digital health interventions can fill gaps in mental healthcare provision. However, autonomous e-mental health (AEMH) systems also present challenges for effective risk management. To balance autonomy and safety, AEMH systems need to detect risk situations and act on these appropriately. One option is sending automatic alerts to...

Virtual reality negotiation training system with virtual cognitions

A number of negotiation training systems have been developed to improve people’s performance in negotiation. They mainly focus on the skills development, and less on negotiation understanding and improving self-efficacy. We propose a virtual reality negotiation training system that exposes users to virtual cognitions during negotiation with...

A therapy system for post-traumatic stress disorder using a virtual agent and virtual storytelling to reconstruct traumatic memories

Although post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is well treatable, many people do not get the desired treatment due to barriers to care (such as stigma and cost). This paper presents a system that bridges this gap by enabling patients to follow therapy at home. A therapist is only involved remotely, to monitor progress and serve as a safety net....

Generating situation-based motivational feedback in a PTSD E-health system

Motivating users is an important task for virtual agents in behaviour chance support systems. In this study we present a system which generates motivational statements based on situation type, aimed at a virtual agent for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder therapy. Using input from experts (n=13), we built a database containing what categories of...

On conversational agents with mental states

Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) have been put forward as a promising means for the training of social skills. The traditional approach to drive the behaviour of ECAs during human-agent dialogues is to use conversation trees. Although this approach is easy to use and very transparent, an important limitation of conversation trees is that...

An ontology-based question system for a virtual coach assisting in trauma recollection

Internet-based guided self-therapy systems provide a novel method for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder patients to follow therapy at home with the assistance of a virtual coach. One of the main challenges for such a coach is assisting patients with recollecting their traumatic memories, a vital part of therapy. In this paper, an ontology-based...

Design and implementation of home-based virtual reality exposure therapy system with a virtual eCoach

Current developments of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) system focus mainly on systems that can be used in health clinics under the direct supervision of a therapist. Offering patients however the possibility to do this treatment at home would make VRET more accessible. In this paper we therefore present a home-based VRET system for the...

Design guidelines for a virtual coach for post-traumatic stress disorder patients

Patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often need to specify and relive their traumatic memories in therapy to relieve their disorder, which can be a very painful process. One new development is an internet-based guided self-therapy system (IBGST), where people work at home and a therapist is remotely involved. We propose to enrich...

An expressive virtual audience with flexible behavioral styles

Currently, expressive virtual humans are used in psychological research, training, and psychotherapy. However, the behavior of these virtual humans is usually scripted and therefore cannot be modified freely at runtime. To address this, we created a virtual audience with parameterized behavioral styles. This paper presents a parameterized...

Virtual reality negotiation training increases negotiation knowledge and skill

In this paper we experimentally investigate learning effects of a rigourously set up virtual reality (VR) negotiation training. We discuss the design of the system in detail. Further, we present results of an experiment (between subject; three experimental conditions: control, training once, repeated training; n=42) investigating learning...

Modeling agents with a theory of mind: Theory-theory versus simulation theory

Virtual training systems with intelligent agents provide an effective means to train people for complex, dynamic tasks like crisis management or firefighting. For successful training, intelligent virtual agents should be able to show believable behavior, adapt their behavior to the trainee’s performance and give useful explanations about their...

Validity of a virtual negotiation training

In this paper we present a rigorously setup VR negotiation training, including an intelligent virtual agent able to express emotion and to give explanations of its behavior. We discuss the measures we took to ensure the validity of the VR training. We also present a small scale experiment showing convergent validity of the VR training. © 2011...

Using artificial team members for team training in virtual environments

In a good team, members do not only perform their individual task, they also coordinate their actions with other members of the team. Developing such team skills usually involves exercises with all members playing their role. This approach is costly and has organizational and educational drawbacks. We developed a more efficient and flexible...

Tunnel operator training with a conversational agent-assistant

A tunnel operator monitors and regulates the flow of traffic inside a tunnel. Tunnel operators need to train in a simulator regularly in order to maintain proficiency in handling incident situations. During quiet working hours, the operator has enough time for training. But generally at that time no instructor or colleague operators are present...

Intelligent agents for training on-board fire fighting

Simulation-based training in complex decision making often requires ample personnel for playing various roles (e.g. team mates, adversaries). Using intelligent agents may diminish the need for staff. However, to achieve goal-directed training, events in the simulation as well as the behavior of key players must be carefully controlled. We...

Modeling agents with a theory of mind

Training systems with intelligent virtual agents provide an effective means to train people for complex, dynamic tasks like crisis management or firefighting. Virtual agents provide more adequate behavior and explanations if they not only take their own goals and beliefs into account, but also the assumed knowledge and intentions of other...

Methodologies for the user evaluation of the motion of virtual humans

Virtual humans are employed in many interactive applications, including (serious) games. Their motion should be natural and allow interaction with its surroundings and other (virtual) humans in real time. Physical controllers offer physical realism and (physical) interaction with the environment. Because they typically act on a selected set of...

Face to face interaction with an intelligent virtual agent: The effect on learning tactical picture compilation

Learning a process control task, such as tactical picture compilation in the Navy, is difficult, because the students have to spend their limited cognitive resources both on the complex task itself and the act of learning. In addition to the resource limits, motivation can be reduced when learning progress is slow. Intelligent Virtual Agents may...