Development of a companion app for university students to promote mental health during periods of solitary home studying

Abstract

Taking into account the growing prevalence of mental health problems amongst university students and an emerging field of research, artificial companions, this thesis aims at developing a solution to combine these two to build a mental health promoting companion for university students. After having built a solid theoretical foundation for this interdisciplinary thesis, which defines mental health as a positive state of mind that enables people to thrive in life and highlights the relevance of the adaptive and engaging traits of artificial companions, a comprehensive concept for the design of such a companion is presented. With the intention to build an artificial companion that closely relates to the users, ethical aspects are of central importance and hence, a special emphasis is put on these aspects within the design. Ultimately, a prototype for the designed concept is developed that implements the core elements of the proposed design concept. The prototype is being tested in terms of functionality of the core components. Furthermore, the system is being tested in the intended setting it was designed for: During sessions of solitary studying. The insights gained from both the theoretical foundations as well as the evaluation process are presented. Last, but not least, directions for future research needed for the improvement and further development of the prototype are outlined.