Future Me, a Prospection-Based Chatbot to Promote Mental Well-Being in Youth: Two Exploratory User Experience Studies.

Abstract

Background: Digital interventions have been proposed as a solution to meet the growing demand for mental health support. Large language models (LLMs) have emerged as a promising technology for creating more personalized and adaptive mental health chatbots. While LLMs generate responses based on statistical patterns in training data rather than through conscious reasoning, they can be designed to support important psychological processes. Prospection-the ability to envision and plan for future outcomes-represents a transdiagnostic process altered across various mental health conditions that could be effectively targeted through such interventions. We designed "Future Me," an LLM-powered chatbot designed to facilitate future-oriented thinking and promote goal pursuit using evidence-based interventions including visualization, implementation intentions, and values clarification.

Objective: This study aims to understand how users engage with Future Me, evaluate its effectiveness in supporting future-oriented thinking, and assess its acceptability across different populations, with particular attention to postgraduate students' stress management needs. We also seek to identify design improvements that could enhance the chatbot's ability to support users' mental well-being.

Methods: In total, 2 complementary studies were conducted. Study 1 (n=20) examined how postgraduate students used Future Me during a single guided session, followed by semistructured interviews. Study 2 (n=14) investigated how postgraduate students interacted with Future Me over a 1-week period, with interviews before and after usage. Both studies analyzed conversation transcripts and interview data using thematic analysis to understand usage patterns, perceived benefits, and limitations.

Results: Across both studies, participants primarily engaged with Future Me to discuss career or education goals, personal obstacles, and relationship concerns. Users valued Future Me's ability to provide clarity around goal-setting (85% of participants), its nonjudgmental nature, and its 24/7 accessibility (58%). Future Me effectively facilitated self-reflection (80%) and offered new perspectives (70%), particularly for broader future-oriented concerns. However, both studies revealed limitations in the chatbot's ability to provide personalized emotional support during high-stress situations, with participants noting that responses sometimes felt formulaic (50%) or lacked emotional depth. Postgraduate students specifically emphasized the need for greater context awareness during periods of academic stress (58%). Overall, 57% of requests occurred outside office hours, dropping from 40 on day 1 to 12 by day 7.

Conclusions: Future Me demonstrates promise as an accessible tool for promoting prospection skills and supporting mental well-being through future-oriented thinking. However, effectiveness appears context-dependent, with prospection techniques more suitable for broader life decisions than acute stress situations. Future development should focus on creating more adaptive systems that can adjust their approach based on the user's emotional state and immediate needs. Rather than attempting to replicate human therapy entirely, chatbots like Future Me may be most effective when designed as complementary tools within broader support ecosystems, offering immediate guidance while facilitating connections to human support when needed.