Exam Compassionate Technology
Week 1
Strauss et al. (2016): What is compassion and how can we measure it? A review of
definitions and measures.
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CPR.2016.05.004
Here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmBUua-dQ8M&t=5s) you can find a short
youtube video from one of your teachers discussing how you should study this article for the
exam. The article also shortly features in the introduction meeting to allow for a definition of
compassion that is very useful to think about how we can connect compassion to
technology.
New definition of compassion = cognitive, affective, and behavioural process consisting of
the following five elements that refer to both self- and other-compassion:
- Recognizing suffering
- Understanding universality of human suffering
- Feeling for the person suffering
- Tolerating uncomfortable feelings
- Motivation to act to alleviate suffering
Why is compassion important:
- Belief systems
- Evolution: better offspring (nurture and protect) and desirable
- Healthcare: improve outcome, increase satisfaction and better given info + own wellbeing
better
3 facets: noticing, feeling and responding
Gilbert: evolutionary terms:
- Motivational system to regulate negative affect
- Not only for close others but also for strangers
Discussion about: the relationship between compassion and self-compassion relation
seems weak
Common humanity: acknowledge that suffering is part of being human …
Relationship between compassion and empathy:
- Similarities: multidimensional, cognitive and affective components
- Differences: Empathy is essential for compassion but not the other way around,
compassion only on suffering and empathy is broader, different brain regions, compassion
is an emotion while empathy is experiencing others emotions
Also relationship between pity and kindness
All measures fall short in terms of the 5 elements need for new scale
Schueller (2018): Mental health and eHealth technology. eHealth Research, Theory and
Development
https://doi.org/org.ezproxy2.utwente.nl/10.4324/9781315385907StephenSchueller
This book chapter gives a broad overview of the eMental health field. It discusses some
different types of eMental health interventions and their possibilities. It also touches upon
blended care, where eMental health is combined with face-to-face treatment. Further, issues
with implementation of eMental health in daily practice and potential solutions for this are
discussed. After reading this chapter, you should be able to describe the different types of
eMental health that are mentioned, and their respective applications and benefits.
Moreover, you should be able to explain why the implementation of eMental health is still
limited and what could help to improve this.
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,eMental Health = use of digital tools to treat/prevent mental health disorders and promote
positive mental health
Types:
- Websites (can be effective, didactic, teach skills, modules with lessons, some human
support)
- Massive Open Online Interventions
- Mobile applications
- Virtual reality
- Social media
- (Serious) games
CBT, ACT, Self-compassion and mindfulness commonly used
Functions:
- Replace f2f therapy
- Addition to f2f (blended care) little evidence but seems positive
Support on eMental Health interventions:
Why is support needed:
- Higher rates of use, user-engagement, and benefits
How to provide support:
- Swedish model (read and do activities first, then share with therapist who gives feedback)
- Macquarie University Model (MUM) (looks like Swedish, feedback is provided with
messages/calls)
- Efficiency Model of Support (only support when needed)
Research on support:
- Not a big role for expertise/time of therapist more feedback/support less motivation
+ less autonomy + less opportunity for learning + barriers experienced
- Automated support vs. human support similar results
Future of support:
- Developed technology increased knowledge on persuasive features better
interventions
Van Lotringen et al. (in press) Compassionate Technology: A Systematic Scoping Review
of Compassion as Foundation for Blended and Digital Mental Health Interventions.
https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/42403/accepted
This article is a literature review , exploring how digital mental health interventions (DMHI’s)
have been connected to compassion and empathy in previous research. Based on the included
literature, three roles are presented in which technology can support compassion in mental
health care. You should be able to name and explain these three compassionate roles, and
give examples of a DMHI for each role.
Further, you should be able to give examples of how technology can support the different
components of compassion based on the included articles in this review, and how
compassionate technology could play a role in blended treatment. You do not need to
study the full results table or know the names of authors of the included studies.
DHMI = digital mental health intervention
Compassionate roles:
- Compassionate elements used to describe technology itself
o = compassion to people
o Intervention example: fully automated text-based health care chatbot (SELMA) /
interactive therapy bot
o Empathetic support
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,- Compassionate elements used to describe interventions for self-compassion
o = self-compassion in people
o Intervention example: VR with compassionate coach imagery / mobile phone app
(track/exercises)
- Compassionate elements used to describe technology to facilitate compassionate elements
between people
o = compassion between people
o Intervention examples: therapeutic robot companion / online support group / VR
simulation movie
Technology’s support in compassion:
- Recognition:
o Role A: being able to indicate their thoughts/feelings to technology
o Role B: track feelings daily, give feedback
o Role C: help caregivers to recognize suffering
- Universality:
o Role A: -
o Role B: messages/exercises to emphasize common humanity
o Role C: link to social support
- Empathy:
o Role A: empathic tone
o Role B: foster empathy with imagining an unpleasant experience of someone else /
compassionate coach via VR
o Role C: empathy between client and caregiver
- Tolerance:
o Role A: -
o Role B: helping to be nonjudgemental/accepting
o Role C: most found, VR intervention to give confidence and positive attitude in skills
towards patients
- Acting:
o Role A: practical activities
o Role B: VR to open up compassionate feelings / interact with child and see
perspective of child
o Role C: social agent to stimulate compassionate interaction, request support
Technology’s role in blended treatment:
- Most studies were with stand-alone technology lack of clarity how to embed
technology overarching construct of compassion can be basis for blended care
- None of the studies included all five elements of compassion
- Intentions, motivations and values of stakeholders is essential
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, - Technology can also be the basis for treatment as it
gives possibilities
1. Recognize suffering anytime anywhere
2. Universality of suffering by connecting with
others
3. Empathy with empathic messages
4. Tolerant of distress by validating difficult
feelings, DMHI is always there, therapist can
look back with client
5. Acting with exercises and digital reminders
Kemp et al. (2020): Delivery of compassionate
mental health care in a digital technology–driven age: scoping review.
https://doi.org/10.2196/16263
The article by Kemp et al. (2020) is a scoping review on the role of digital technology in the
delivery of compassionate mental health care. They used a conceptual model to show the
(potential) relationships between digital technology and compassionate care (Figure 2), such
as online interventions to respond to suffering, and compassion-oriented technologies to
support the bond between professional and client. You should be able to explain and give
examples of how technologies can support these different intersections of compassion
and digital technologies according to the findings reported here. Furthermore, the authors
describe barriers and facilitators for delivering compassionate care through digital technology.
There is some overlap in these with the barriers and facilitators described by Feijt et al.
(2018) and Titzler et al. (2018) (both also exam material, see above). For example, issues
with technology (bad connection, low quality interface) is a barrier mentioned by all three
articles. However, there is also some difference between the barriers and facilitators
described by Kemp et al. (2020) and the other two articles, since Kemp et al. (2020)
focused specifically on compassionate care through digital technology. Pay attention to
which facilitator(s) and barrier(s) are unique in the article of Kemp et al. (2020) due to
their focus on compassionate care, compared to Feijt et al. (2018) and Tizler et al. (2018)
Definitions of digital intersections of compassionate care:
- Awareness of suffering = awareness through use of technology
- Mediated response = utilizing technology to influence responses to suffering
- Online intervention = responding to suffering through online intervention
o E.g. online therapy, VR programs, emails, videoconferencing
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