Development of a conversational agent to guide end users in rehabilitation of substance use disorders in the design of digital games with therapeutic intent

• Grant number: 22/15468-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2023
• End date: January 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science - Computing Methodologies and Techniques
• Principal Investigator: Vânia Paula de Almeida Neris
• Grantee: Vinícius Matheus Romualdo Santos
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant(s): 24/01629-4 - ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, AR.EXT

Abstract

Substance use disorders (SUDs) cause more than 500,000 deaths each year worldwide. Computing and healthcare professionals have been investigating technology solutions to support the rehabilitation process for people with SUDs. Among these systems are therapeutic digital games, which have the potential to engage patients in the therapeutic process. The design and development of games in the SUDs domain requires a multidisciplinary team, and the participation of end users, patients and caregivers is also desired. However, to scale the development and use of these games, it is still necessary to investigate how to foster the autonomy of these end users so that they can create and implement the games without the need for the physical presence of computing professionals. Therefore, this project aims to implement a conversational agent to guide end users in a digital game design process with therapeutic intent. The research will follow the Design Science Research (DSR) method.