The effect of mechanical feedback on outcome in self-care support tool based on solution-focused brief therapy

ABSTRACTABSTRACTObjective: Little is known about the impact of mechanical feedback in self-care support tools. Technically, natural language processing and machine learning can provide mechanical feedback in self-care support tools. This study compared the differences between mechanical feedback and no feedback conditions in a self-care support tool based on solution-focused brief therapy. In the feedback condition, feedback was provided by mechanically determining the probability that the goal answered in goal setting was concrete or realistic.Methods: A total of 501 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to either the feedback (n = 268) or no feedback (n = 233) condition.Results: The results showed that the mechanical feedback increased the probability of problem-solving. In contrast, solution-building, positive and negative affect, and the probability of living an ideal life increased when using the self-care support tool based on solution-focused brief therapy, regardless of the feedback. In addition, the higher the probability of goal concreteness and reality, the greater the improvement in solution-building and positive affect.Conclusion: This study suggests that self-care support tools based on solution-focused brief therapy with feedback are more effective than those without feedback. Self-care support tools based on solution-focused brief therapy with feedback can be used as an easily accessible tool to maintain and promote mental health.Keywords: self-care support toolsolution-focused brief therapymechanical feedbacknatural language processingmachine learninggoal Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by JSPS: [Grant Number JP22K17536].