Manage Your Life Online (MYLO)
The Manage Your Life Online (MYLO) program is an interactive, AI-based “talking therapy” designed on the fundamental principles of Method of Levels (MOL) therapy and simulates an MOL-style conversation through an automated, “instant messenger” interface. MYLO aims to aid individuals in solving a problem they are current experiencing by scanning user’s input of text for key themes and phrases which it utilises to produce questions aimed at encouraging the user to talk about a problem that is significant to them and asking questions aimed at shifting awareness to higher levels in their control system hierarchy.
The program was used by me as part of my PhD with the permission of its intellectual owner Dr Warren Mansell at the University of Manchester. The program was tested with older adults and received several technology updates over the course of my studies including speech recognition, synthesised speech and an avatar.
Publications
Gaffney, H., Mansell, W., & Tai, S. (2020). Agents of change: Understanding the therapeutic processes associated with the helpfulness of therapy for mental health problems with relational agent MYLO. DIGITAL HEALTH. https://doi.org/10.1177/2055207620911580. Link to Paper
Bird, T., Mansell, W., Wright, J., Gaffney, H., & Tai, S. (2018). Manage Your Life Online: A Web-Based Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Problem-Solving Intervention in a Student Sample. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 46(5), 570-582. doi:10.1017/S1352465817000820. Link to Paper
Gaffney, H., Mansell, W., Edwards, R., & Wright, J. (2014). Manage Your Life Online (MYLO): A Pilot Trial of a Conversational Computer-Based Intervention for Problem Solving in a Student Sample. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 42(6), 731-746. doi:10.1017/S135246581300060X. Link to Paper
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