Do You Have Time for a Quick Chat? Designing a Conversational Interface for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training

Title of the Paper

Do You Have Time for a Quick Chat? Designing a Conversational Interface for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training

Paper Information

• Field of Study: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Sexual Harassment Prevention Training Design
• Keywords: Human-Computer Interaction, Conversational Interface, Sexual Harassment, Training, Empathy, Sensitive Topics

Research Background and Problem

• Problem or Challenge: Although many organizations provide sexual harassment prevention training, incidents of sexual harassment continue to occur. Existing training methods, typically based on online reading or classroom instruction, are often perceived as dull, uncomfortable, and overly simplistic. These methods have limited impact on changing participants' attitudes and behaviors and may even have negative effects.
• Significance: Sexual harassment is a widespread issue that severely impacts the mental and work environment of individuals and organizations. Designing effective prevention training is therefore critical. By enhancing empathy and improving participants' attitudes, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of sexual harassment cases.
• Research Motivation and Related Work: The authors identified significant shortcomings in traditional sexual harassment prevention training in terms of fostering attitude changes and improving behaviors. Existing research has shown that first-person narratives can enhance empathy, and interactive, immersive methods can improve learning outcomes. Based on this, the authors proposed using an innovative conversational interface to provide a more immersive and interactive learning experience.

Solution

• Proposed Method: The authors designed a text-based conversational interface (CI) to present workplace sexual harassment scenarios in an interactive manner using a first-person narrative approach. The interface simulates the conversational style of a victim and guides learners to engage in dialogue through real-time interaction.
• Innovations:
  1. Integration of first-person narratives to evoke empathy in participants.
  2. Provision of interactive and immersive content (e.g., simulated role-playing conversations).
  3. Use of real-time interaction (e.g., online chat) to enhance learner engagement.
• Implementation Steps and Technology:
  1. Design conversational scenarios featuring sexual harassment cases, breaking them into short, digestible information segments for readability.
  2. Insert interactive prompts (e.g., open-ended questions and quick reply options) to encourage learner participation and reflection.
  3. Deploy the interface on the Facebook Messenger platform, using Python and chatbot algorithms to simulate interaction.
  4. Conduct a mixed-methods study (N=32) to evaluate the interface's applicability and effectiveness.

Research Findings

• Specific Results:
  1. Learners using the CI reported higher comfort levels during discussions, lower perceived stress about the content, and greater engagement.
  2. First-person narratives made the scenarios feel more realistic and relatable, fostering deeper empathy.
  3. Participants in the CI group exhibited a sense of immersion, actively took on the role of a helper, and demonstrated a more open attitude toward discussing sensitive topics.
• Advantages Compared to Existing Solutions:
  1. Compared to traditional online or classroom training methods, the CI design offers greater interactivity and immersion.
  2. The CI alleviates learners' discomfort and concerns about discussing sensitive topics, such as fear of judgment by others.
• Experimental or Evaluation Results:
  1. The CI group reported several unique advantages (e.g., interactivity and immersion) compared to the control group, though no significant differences were found between the groups in terms of measured empathy or attitude changes.
  2. Empathy levels measured using the IOS (Inclusion of Other in the Self) scale did not show significant differences between interfaces, with overall empathy levels being heavily influenced by individual backgrounds and experiences.
• Limitations and Future Directions:
  1. The current study used a simple text-based chat to discuss sexual harassment cases, with limited support for complex multi-turn interactions.
  2. The interface did not explore the potential of visual models, such as virtual character representations.
  3. The cases used were virtual and singular; future work could incorporate diverse, real, or data-driven sexual harassment cases.
  4. The long-term effects of the application remain unclear, as only short-term user experiences were evaluated.
  5. The study sample primarily consisted of young users from university communities; future research should expand to a broader demographic.

Design Insights

1. Evoking Empathy: Design chat content that strengthens the relationship between learners and virtual characters, such as incorporating steps to build trust and emotional connections or displaying features similar to social networks.
2. Designing for Sensitive Topics: In interfaces addressing sensitive areas, the design does not need to fully pursue "highly human-like realism" but should balance comfort and realism.
3. Personalized Content: Tailor case content and character behavior to the learner's social, cultural, and work context to enhance emotional resonance.
4. Long-term Applicability Research: Beyond initial experience evaluations, assess the impact of repeated training and long-term behavioral changes.
5. Broader Applications: This conversational interface design could be applied to other fields requiring emotional resonance, such as medical fundraising, psychological counseling, and ethics training.