研發聊天機器人作為輔導與諮商人員同理心訓練的模擬個案：從使用者觀點檢視其可行性

Developing Chatbots as Virtual Clients for Empathy Training in Counselor Education: Examining Feasibility from Users’Perspectives

本研究旨在開發聊天機器人作為輔助培訓輔導與諮商人員同理心訓練的虛擬標準個案（VC），並評估其作為輔助輔導與諮商人員同理心訓練的可行性。本研究基於輔導與諮商人員培訓的領域知識，開發並測試了聊天機器人作為虛擬個案的應用。機器人由自然語言處理引擎驅動，並通過包含各種同理心的對話語料庫進行培訓。對話者可與VC進行多樣性、多輪對話來練習同理心技巧。成功開發VC後，招募了60名輔導與諮商相關科系學生體驗與VC互動，並進行用戶體驗調查，以了解用戶對VC易用性和有效性的主觀感受和看法。結果顯示測試者的用戶體驗問卷平均分數超過5分（1-7），達到滿意的狀態、在系統可用性量表方面，平均分數為4（1-5），表示對系統的可用性表示同意。而質性回饋資料顯示測試者認為與VC互動感到放鬆無壓力，並願意繼續對話，認為VC適合練習同理心技巧，能降低練習時的焦慮感，通過這樣的練習可以改善他們的同理心技巧。足見本研究成功將聊天機器人轉變為VC，可以作為同理心練習的輔助培訓工具，除了增加同理心培訓的練習時間、意願和機會外，VC還可以讓準諮商人員在發展諮商技巧的學習階段，避免直接面對真實個案所帶來的倫理問題和壓力，亦有助於解決個案來源不足的教學困境。

The purpose of this research is to develop chatbots as virtual clients (VCs) for empathy training, and to explore the feasibility assessment of using chatbots to assist in empathy training for students in counseling and guidance-related departments. The virtual clients are developed and tested based on chatbots using domain knowledge of empathy training. Chatbots are powered by natural language processing engines and trained by corpora of dialogues involving various emotions. As such, using chatbots serving as VCs allows the interlocutor to practice empathy skills with diversity and richness. After chatbots are successfully transformed into VCs, 60 volunteers from the Department of Guidance and Counseling are recruited to experience the interaction with VCs, followed by immediately conducting user experience surveys to understand users’subjective feelings and thoughts for evaluating the ease of use and effectiveness of VC. Chatbots are successfully transformed into VCs by implementing corpora of emotions into“custom brain”of chatbots. The content of corpora includes client scenarios that are consistent with the goals of empathy training for undergraduates in guidance and counseling or psychotherapy. Test results show that the average score from the User Experience Questionnaire of the testers exceeds level 5 (1-7), which is a state of satisfaction. In terms of System Usability Scale, the average score is 4 (1-5), indicating agreement with the system’s usability. Along with qualitative feedback, testers agreed on the usability of the chatbot system, stating that most people can quickly learn to use the system, interact with the virtual client (VC) without stress, feel relaxed, and want to continue the conversation. They believe that VC is suitable for practicing empathy skills, reducing anxiety during practice, and improving empathy response skills through such practice. From the observation of the testers during the test process, the testers showed curious and interested eyes when they saw the VC, and they enjoyed practicing empathy with the VC. This research successfully transformed the chatbot into a VC, which can be used as an assistive training tool for empathy practice. In addition to increasing practice hours, willingness, and opportunities for empathy training, using VCs allows prospective counselors to avoid ethical problems and pressure caused by directly facing the real-life client in the learning stage of developing counseling skills. Furthermore, utilizing VCs as a training auxiliary tool will help solve the teaching dilemma of insufficient case sources and enable the continuation of counselor education in situations such as future recurrences of epidemics similar to the COVID-19 pandemic.