Improve Men’s Health Scholarship

“During the pandemic, I heartbrokenly witnessed my younger brother battle with a severe anxiety disorder. He couldn’t sleep, focus, or keep up with schoolwork and confined himself to his room. Observing it, my long-term goals include creating relatable, “living” chatbots based on game development storytelling and therapeutic principles to help boys and men like him open up for therapy and to provide psychiatrists with new tools to help their patients. 

During high school, I looked into programming, storytelling, and chatbot-related papers. One Disney Research paper I found was about the beneficial effects on autistic children holding a conversation with an interactive avatar at the “Turtle Talk With Crush” attraction in Disney’s California Adventures. In the study, it was recognized that avatars “could be useful in situations where a therapist cannot reach an individual to facilitate online interactions…”. The potential for avatars to help with mental health outreach is especially important for men. According to mentalhealth.org.uk, “Men are less likely to access psychological therapies than women: only 36% of referrals to NHS talking therapies are for men.” This disparity can come from societal pressures and expectations; talking with a self-service avatar may be an easier step for men to take, which would increase the number of men who seek help.

Furthermore, untested theories from the Disney Research paper, such as testing 1-on-1 avatar-patient interaction can act as a great starting point for future undergraduate research.  It was exciting to read this paper because it reinforced my idea; however, I realized that reaching my goal would require not just the idea but deep knowledge in many different areas. I have a plan for just that.

In high school, I have not only studied programming but worked my way to become the lead programmer in my Robotics Team, lead architect or game director on several publicly distributed apps and games for my Game Development class, and also taught programming as a part-time job. 

I plan to major in computer science. The school I’m attending, the University of California San Diego (UCSD), has a strong emphasis on both computer science and interdisciplinary coursework, undergraduate research and/or entrepreneurship programs, and internship opportunities that will give me the foundation for my future work. The coursework under my major will give me the technical skills; I will also take courses like psychology and creative writing from other fields to round out my chatbot idea. I plan to gain the research and entrepreneurial skills necessary to take my ideas to the next level by joining college programs like UCSD’s Summer Research Program (SRP) or Triton Research & Experiential Learning Scholars (TRELS).

A Master’s degree will be necessary to form, research, and test my progressive ideas about therapy chatbots. For my Master’s thesis project, I plan to enhance my work by working with psychologists to develop a prototype to test for best medical practices. I can also refer to game developers to improve how chatbot personalities are presented to the player. 

My programming skills can also benefit men’s health in the immediate future by making apps and plug-ins that support healthy habits. For instance, I can make a plug-in to reduce negative impacts while gaming. As technology access and use become more widespread, our time sitting in front of a computer will increase too. However, there are known negative health impacts from sitting in front of a screen too long. “Standing up for better heart health” from harvard.edu says, “Every two hours a day spent sitting was associated with an increase in weight and waist size, as well as in levels of blood sugar and cholesterol.” Sources like Orlando Health support that standing up for a little bit after every 30 minutes to an hour can decrease these negative effects.

Coincidentally, many popular video game titles that men play, like League of Legends and Valorant, have games that last this long. Using game APIs, I hope to create game extensions that would remind players to stand up between games. Using some advice from Goalcast.com’s article “How to Develop Habits with Greater Ease Using the Path of Least Resistance,” I would also try to implement pop-ups that block reentering the game for a minute to “complicate and distance yourself from distractions.” In this case, the distraction would be playing a new game instead of standing up every 30 minutes to an hour. 

I hope to expand my background, knowledge, and experience to make chatbot-aided therapy and video game health plugins possible by furthering my education. I can start a startup or conduct industry research to implement this idea in the real world. Or, I could use my research experience to join a research group like Disney Research to build on previous work and expand the chatbot idea to the entertainment district. Regardless, this scholarship will help ensure I can focus on taking the extracurriculars, research, and internship opportunities I need to make this a reality.”

Oakwood Health Network is thrilled with how our Men’s Health Scholarship was received.