Despite its importance for well-being, spiritual care remains under-explored in HCI, while the adoption of technology in clinical spiritual care lags behind other healthcare fields. Prior work derived a definition of "spiritual support" through co-design workshops with stakeholders in online health communities. This paper contributes: (1) a revision of that definition through member checking with professional spiritual care providers (SCPs); (2) a novel design framework—SPIRIT—which can help to expand models of delivery for spiritual care using digital technologies. Through re-analysis of previous data and new interviews with SCPs, we identify three prerequisites for meaningful spiritual care: openness to care, safe space, and the ability to discern and articulate spiritual needs. We also propose six design dimensions: loving presence, meaning-making, appropriate degree of technology use, location, degree of relational closeness, and temporality. We discuss how SPIRIT offers guidance for designing impactful digital spiritual care intervention systems within and beyond clinical settings.

The comparatively recent advent of Large Language Models (LLMs) has resulted in a wide array of new capabilities and components relevant to Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) researchers. LLMs are being applied to vision, manipulation, planning, reasoning, learning, and HRI problems, frequently as “Scarecrows,” in which LLMs serve as black box modules integrated into robot architectures for the purpose of quickly enabling full-pipeline solutions. However, despite this explosion of applications, general questions remain about the best ways to incorporate LLMs into robot architectures, appropriate safety and guardrail considerations, and, critically, how to report properly on HRI research that involves LLMs. In this article, we explore the question of reporting guidelines for HRI researchers who utilize Scarecrows in robot architectures. We identify five key stakeholder groups in the HRI research process, discuss what information each group needs from HRI researchers, and identify appropriate mechanisms for conveying that information from HRI researchers to stakeholders either directly or indirectly. We contribute a set of suggested guidelines regarding what information should be included when researchers disseminate information about HRI research that uses LLMs.

Despite a growing need for spiritual care in the US, it is often under-served, inaccessible, or misunderstood, while almost no prior work in CSCW/HCI research has engaged with professional chaplains and spiritual care providers. This interdisciplinary study aims to develop a foundational understanding of how spiritual care may (or may not) be expanded into online spaces--especially focusing on anonymous, asynchronous, and text-based online communities. We conducted an exploratory mixed-methods study with chaplains (N=22) involving interviews and user testing sessions centered around Reddit support communities to understand participants' perspectives on technology and their ideations about the role of chaplaincy in prospective Online Spiritual Care Communities (OSCCs). Our Grounded Theory Method analysis highlighted benefits of OSCCs including: meeting patients where they are at; accessibility and scalability; and facilitating patient-initiated care. Chaplains highlighted how their presence in OSCCs could help with shaping peer interactions, moderation, synchronous chats for group care, and redirecting to external resources, while also raising important feasibility concerns, risks, and needs for future design and research. We used an existing taxonomy of chaplaincy techniques to show that some spiritual care strategies may be amenable to online spaces, yet we also exposed the limitations of technology to fully mediate spiritual care and the need to develop new online chaplaincy interventions. Based on these findings, we contribute the model of a ''Care Loop'' between institutionally-based formal care and platform-based community care to expand access and drive greater awareness and utilization of spiritual care. We also contribute design implications to guide future work in online spiritual care.

Fearing stigma, parents often hide their children's HIV diagnosis from them, and postpone disclosure, in turn negatively impacting children's well-being. Our work explores whether interactive technology can support disclosure. In the first study, we examine disclosure experiences and the role of interactive technology from the perspective of HIV-positive children and parents. Through Thematic Analysis, we highlight how disclosure is linked with parents’ own experience of HIV, and that disclosure needs to be viewed as a process. On this basis, we contribute an experience prototype that guides parents through an incremental disclosure process using interactive storytelling. In a second study, we evaluate the prototype through interviews with six parents. Leveraging Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, we show that the prototype has potential to transform how parents understand and approach disclosure. Based on our results, we present further design directions, and discuss the (limitations of the) role that technology can play in this context.

Adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa are at the epicenter of the global HIV epidemic. Yet, technology to support HIV management overwhelmingly focuses on adult medication adherence, neglecting the complex lives of adolescents in low-income regions. We present findings from interviews and focus groups that included twelve HIV-positive adolescents in Ethiopia, and eleven adults from their care circles. We leverage the Integrated Behavioral Model to examine the lived experience of HIV and the space for technology. Additionally, we present an inductive thematic analysis, which highlights non-disclosure as a central theme, i.e., adolescents remaining unaware of their HIV status. Drawing from these findings, we discuss how to account for (the lack of) disclosure in the design of technology to support HIV management, and reflect on whether technology could (and should) support the process. We further highlight the risks that researchers and designers need to be aware of when designing HIV management technology for this audience.