Collaborative School Mental Health System: Leveraging a Conversational Agent for Enhancing Children's Executive Function

Title of the Paper

Collaborative School Mental Health System: Leveraging a Conversational Agent for Enhancing Children’s Executive Function

Paper Information

• Subject Area: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children and executive function intervention
• Keywords: ADHD, executive function, conversational agent, school mental health system, family-school collaboration

Research Background and Issues

• Identified Problems or Challenges:

  • ADHD is one of the most common mental disorders among children, affecting approximately 7.2% of children. Its primary characteristics include inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsive behavior.
  • Schools play a crucial role in the early detection and treatment of children's mental health issues. However, interventions in schools are often hindered by societal stigma surrounding mental health and parental concerns.
  • The core feature of ADHD is executive function deficits, and the development of executive function in children is critical for their ability to plan, organize, self-regulate, and adapt to school environments.

• Significance:

  • Enhancing children’s executive function not only improves their academic performance but also helps them better cope with challenges in daily life.
  • Early intervention for children with ADHD can provide significant benefits for their long-term mental health development.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • During the COVID-19 pandemic, children’s usage of smart devices (e.g., tablets and smartphones) increased significantly, indicating a growing reliance on technology for interaction and learning.
  • Currently, there is a lack of solutions that effectively leverage technology to improve executive function in children with ADHD symptoms.

Solution

• Proposed Solution:

  • This study developed an intelligent conversational agent system (ForME) to help children enhance their executive function by autonomously setting and completing daily tasks.
  • A support platform was also established for parents and teachers, forming a collaborative school mental health system involving multiple stakeholders.

• Innovative Aspects of the Solution:

  • Utilization of a self-guided interactive process via the conversational agent ("goal, plan, execute, review" cycle).
  • Integration of voice interaction and visual prompts, combined with reward mechanisms to enhance children’s learning and self-regulation abilities.
  • The system design incorporates three key stakeholders—children, parents, and teachers—promoting collaboration between schools and families.

• Implementation Steps:

  • Developed a conversational agent application tailored for children, along with a parent monitoring app and a teacher management web interface.
  • Conducted a randomized trial where children in the intervention group used the ForME system for six weeks. Changes in executive function and ADHD symptoms were evaluated by parents and teachers.
  • Collected real user feedback data and assessed the system’s effectiveness through quantitative and qualitative data analysis.

Research Findings

• Specific Results:

  • Children in the intervention group using the conversational agent showed significant improvements in executive function (Behavior Regulation Index and Global Executive Composite scores).
  • ADHD symptom assessments indicated reductions in inattention and impulsive behavior in the intervention group.
  • Further analysis revealed that teachers’ evaluations of ADHD symptom improvements were more pronounced than those of parents.

• Advantages Compared to Existing Solutions:

  • Enhanced accessibility for early screening and intervention for ADHD.
  • Provided a broadly applicable mental health support program in school settings without stigmatizing or limiting target groups.
  • Leveraged technology to help children habitually build and complete daily routines, offering both innovation and general applicability.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Among the 132 children participating in the experiment, the intervention group achieved an average daily task completion rate of 56.2%.
  • Significant improvements were observed in Behavior Regulation Index (BRI) and overall executive function scores; ADHD symptoms related to inattention and total scores showed improvement.
  • Teachers’ evaluations indicated a significant reduction in symptoms among suspected ADHD children in the intervention group.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations:

    • Children were not formally diagnosed with ADHD; suspected cases were inferred through screening questionnaires.
    • Some participants dropped out during the study, potentially affecting the generalizability and accuracy of the results.
    • Feedback was collected solely from parents and teachers, without direct input from children.

  • Future Directions:

    • Conduct larger-scale trials involving clinically diagnosed children with ADHD.
    • Improve system functionality to reduce the management burden on teachers and incorporate children’s experience evaluations as supplementary feedback.
    • Explore specific implementation strategies for promoting a collaborative mental health support system between families and schools in educational settings.

Conclusion

This study demonstrates the potential of using intelligent conversational agents to enhance children’s executive function and alleviate ADHD symptoms, highlighting the critical role of school mental health systems. By integrating technology with family-school collaboration, the innovative system for supporting children’s mental health provides a promising direction for future research and facilitates the widespread application of practical interventions.