Value Elicitation for a Socially Assistive Robot Addressing Social Anxiety: A Participatory Design Approach

TL;DR

This study uses participatory design workshops with researchers to identify key values like adaptivity and acceptance for socially assistive robots aimed at supporting individuals with social anxiety.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic, participatory approach to eliciting core values for designing socially assistive robots in mental health contexts.

Findings

Identified core values such as adaptivity, acceptance, and efficacy.

Highlighted the importance of user-centered, context-aware design.

Provided insights into design considerations for social anxiety support.

Abstract

Social anxiety is a prevalent mental health condition that can significantly impact overall well-being and quality of life. Despite its widespread effects, adequate support or treatment for social anxiety is often insufficient. Advances in technology, particularly in social robotics, offer promising opportunities to complement traditional mental health. As an initial step toward developing effective solutions, it is essential to understand the values that shape what is considered meaningful, acceptable, and helpful. In this study, a participatory design workshop was conducted with mental health academic researchers to elicit the underlying values that should inform the design of socially assistive robots for social anxiety support. Through creative, reflective, and envisioning activities, participants explored scenarios and design possibilities, allowing for systematic elicitation of values, expectations, needs, and preferences related to robot-supported interventions. The findings reveal rich insights into design-relevant values-including adaptivity, acceptance, and efficacy-that are core to support for individuals with social anxiety. This study highlights the significance of a research-led approach to value elicitation, emphasising user-centred and context-aware design considerations in the development of socially assistive robots.