Chatbots as Peer Counselors in Helping Students Manage Stress: Socio-Technical Requirements

Pressure to perform well academically and to sustain positive relationships with family and friends cause varying degrees of stress among students that can affect their performance and impact their mental health and well-being. A known solution in reducing stress is through peer counseling where experiences and hardships are shared with trusted peers in order to extend and receive support from one another. Insufficient number of trained peer counselors, however, limit its contribution. The capabilities offered by chatbots has sparked recent interest in their potential usage as an accessible healthcare technology to help individuals cope with stress and manage their well-being. In this study, interviews with senior high students from a private university in Manila were conducted to identify the causes of their stress, determine the strategies they employed in managing stress with particular emphasis on peer counseling, and solicit feedback on their perception of a peer counselor chatbot. Findings from this study can provide insights on the ideal characteristics of a chatbot as a peer counselor and inform future designers of such technologies to help in stress management towards maintaining good mental health and well-being.