Up To Me: Eliminating the Stigma of Mental Illness on College Campuses
About the Chatbot Study
Challenging Stigma Through Disclosure Deliberation & Storytelling
Research shows those who have disclosed aspects of their mental illness report a sense of personal empowerment and increased confidence to seek and achieve individual goals. Up To Me is a three-session program designed to reduce the self-stigma associated with mental illness.
​The three lessons include:
1. Considering the Pros and Cons of Disclosing:
My identity and mental illness. Secrets are part of life. Weighing the costs and benefits of disclosing.
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2. Different ways to Disclose:
Five ways to come out. Testing a person for disclosure. How might others respond to my disclosure?
3. Telling your Story:
How to tell a personally meaningful story. Who are peers that might help me with coming out? Review how telling my story felt.
Putting it all together to move forward.
Study Purpose
This study is being conducted at the University of South Florida (USF) and is supported/sponsored by USF Internal Funding. The purpose of the study is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of delivering Up To Me, a disclosure deliberation program, using chatbot technology. The Up To Me prototype chatbot is designed to help postsecondary students with mental health challenges deliberate and decide whether or not to disclose their experiences with mental health challenges and to craft a disclosure story should they decide to disclose. Study findings will be used to enhance a prototype chatbot to help college students navigate mental health disclosure.