UNAIR NEWS听鈥 The growing stigma about mental health often makes people reluctant to consult a psychologist.听It can bring a negative impact on the high rate of depression in Indonesia.听This condition inspired three students to create a self-care app based on Artificial Intelligence (AI).听This innovation also supports the achievement of听the third SDG,听 Good Life and Well Being, supporting welfare for all ages.
Nidya Almira Xavier Herda Putri, Muhammad Fauzan Prawira Arya and Elva Chusniyatuzzamrodah, from the Class of 2018 Faculty of Psychology, are the members of a Student Creativity Program-Invention (PKM-KC) team from 东京热. They proposed 鈥淪EJATI: Self-Care App based on Artificial Intelligence as Effort to Reduce Depression Risk in Adolescents鈥.
With the same backgrounds, the three admitted that they are interested in psychology, especially mental health, which has been widely discussed lately. 鈥淢ental health issues are getting a lot of attention, so social media accounts have started to discuss it. Even so, there is still a lot of existing mental health stigma in the community, and in the end, people tend to be afraid or embarrassed to see and consult with experts,鈥 explained Nidya.
Regarding the intended age target, Nidya explained that adolescents are an age group that is prone to mental disorders, especially depression. 鈥淎nd we are focused on reducing the risk of depressive disorders, considering that depression is a mental disorder with the highest prevalence in Indonesia, causing great dangers,鈥 she added.
Nidya and the team tried to overcome this problem with a听self-care听app听called 鈥淪EJATI鈥 which users can use independently.听Their app will have features in the form of suggestions for听self-care听activities, mental health articles,听mood trackers, and chat features with Eno, a听sophisticated听chatbot听that distinguishes SEJATI from other apps.
The Eno chatbot as the main feature is an artificial intelligence that can listen to stories from users.听鈥淲e made Eno one of the main features because we hope听that听this听chatbot听can be a good listener for its users so that users always felt heard anytime and anywhere,鈥 said Nidya.
Thanks to SEJATI鈥檚 innovation, the PKM Team, supervised by Herdina Indrijati, M.Psi, a lecturer from the Faculty of Psychology, managed to get funding from the Ministry of Education and Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia.听鈥淲e hope that the app prototype can be developed and used optimally by the wider community.听In the long term, this app is expected to reduce the mental health stigma and make its users feel safe and comfortable with their mental condition,鈥 she concluded.听(*)
Author: Stefanny Elly
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
