[TMP-118] The knowledgeable and empathic behavior change coach

Contact person: Mauro Dragoni (dragoni@fbk.eu)

Internal Partners:

1. Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Mauro Dragoni
2. Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Jean-Claude Martin
3. Umeå University (UMU), Helena Lindgren

 

We develop a conceptual model of key components relating to supporting healthy behavior change. The model provides a top-level representation of the clinical (from the psychological perspective) enablers and barriers that can be exploited for developing fine- grained models supporting the realization of behavior change paths within and across specific domains. The resulting ontology will form the basis for generating user models (Theory of Mind), developing reasoning and decision-making strategies for managing conflicting values and motives, which can be used in collaborative and persuasive dialogues with the user. Such knowledge is also fundamental for embedding empathic behavior as well as non-verbal behaviors which can be embodied by a virtual character in the role of a coach. Learning methods can be applied to explore trajectories of behavior change. The produced ontology will represent a valuable resource for the healthcare domain thanks to the knowledge included into the provided resource.

Results Summary

The resulting ontology will form the basis for generating user models (Theory of Mind), developing reasoning and decision-making strategies for managing conflicting values and motives, which can be used in collaborative and persuasive dialogues with the user. Such knowledge is also fundamental for embedding empathic behavior as well as corresponding non-verbal behaviors which can be displayed by a virtual character embodying the role of a coach or the dispatching of motivational human-computer interactions over different devices (e.g. mobile phone and smartwatch). Concerning the last point, the work done in this microproject worked as a trigger for the creation of a new knowledge graph of functional status.

Tangible Outcomes

1. An Ontology-Based Coaching Solution for Increasing Self-Awareness of Own Functional Status – Mauro Dragoni in AI4Function 2021:2nd workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Function, Disability, and Health, 2021  http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2926/paper1.pdf 
2. Modeling a Functional Status Knowledge Graph For Personal Health. in HC@AIxIA 2022 workshop on Artificial INtelligence for healthcare, 2022   https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3307/paper4.pdf 
3. Integrating Functional Status Information into Knowledge Graphs to Support Self-Health Management. at the Data Intelligence Journal (MIT Press), 2023 https://direct.mit.edu/dint/article/5/3/636/114950/Integrating-Functional-Status-Information-into   
4.  extensions of the HeLiS ontology – Mauro Dragoni https://horus-ai.fbk.eu/helis/ 
5. Video presentation summarizing the project