TESS: Technology for Everyday Self-regulation Scaffolding

Children can differ markedly in their ability to self-regulate as early as by the start of elementary school. Lower ability to self-regulate predicts increased risk of criminal behaviour, suicide, and academic under-achievement later in life. To increase the self-regulation competencies and thus avoid the negative effects, a number of evidence-based prevention programs are currently widely used in schools. A principal challenge for the existing programs is however in how to transfer and reinforce the learning in everyday contexts and beyond the in-school lessons. In particular, the current approaches require an on-going, in-the- moment coaching by trained adults which makes existing programs highly time- and resource-intensive and substantially limits the scale and impact the prevention programs can have. This proposal argues that digital technology can address this crucial gap, helping to fundamentally re-think the available intervention delivery methods in Prevention Science. The systems we envision will draw on the power of digital technology to promote engaging interactive experiences for parents and children as part of their everyday life; but that are however also precisely developed to deliver the psychologically powerful content of the evidence- based programs. The challenge thus lies in the current lack of knowledge of how to re-interpret the core psychological mechanisms (that make the interventions effective) for delivery by technological means; as well as how to engage parents and children with such content in real-world settings. Our approach envisions developing a set of smart UbiComp objects that can be embedded in the everyday lives of young children and their families, providing in-situ support to practice and develop self-regulation. We will iteratively work with four number of under-privileged communities (such as first-generation migrant families) across UK and Austria test the transferability of the developed technology and the underlying socio-technical components across multiple cultural settings and groups. This work will be supported by an international consortium of partners: beyond the host and receiving institutions, we partner with leading international organisations developing prevention programs for at-risk youth (Anna Freud Centre, Committee for Children, Rochester Resilience Project) as well as the Austrian Ministry of Education and the Clinic for Transcultural Psychiatry and Migration (CTPM). This research will be the first in HCI to explore the emerging potential for technology in SEL. We will develop theoretical (core principles) and practical (a working prototype) understanding of the role digital technology can play in this space. If successful, such a result will help to fundamentally re-think the intervention delivery methods in Prevention Science more broadly. The findings will also substantially contribute to key HCI areas such as behavioural change, positive computing, or personal informatics that were so far centred on supporting physical aspects (fitness, food, sleep), but lacked the focus on developing psychological competencies that are similarly instrumental in promoting individuals` well-being.