Application of Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health Education in

Primary and Middle Schools

Lijiao Huo

and Furong Sun

School of Humanities, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China

Keywords:

Bioinformatics, Artificial Intelligence, Mental Health, School Health Services.

Abstract:

The sudden increase in the psychological needs of students, the need to improve the screening rate of

psychological problems, the fact that students are guarded, and lack of initiative have highlighted the

challenges of school mental health services. China's artificial intelligence psychology and behavior research

continues to deepen, combined with new technologies such as biosensing, blood spectrum optical imaging,

and psychological counseling big data, in order to fit the characteristics of contemporary students, based on

the human-computer interaction mode of objective algorithms, and regulate emotions through real-time

physiological monitoring Various paths such as status and changing cognitive models can be widely used in

mental health screening and psychological counseling services in primary and secondary schools, or will

become innovative points in the construction of mental health in smart campuses.

1 INTRODUCTION

Bioinformatics is a new subject, it is the application

of computer and information. Technology collects,

stores, analyzes, organizes and manages various

biomedical information and a science of utilization.

Artificial intelligence is an important direction for the

development of medical bioinformatics. Apply the

computer to simulate the basic biological mechanism,

establish the analysis system of the complex life

system and the computer virtual laboratory, develop

the virtual experiment from the repeated cycle of

"hypothesis-prediction-test-conclusion", construct

the virtual experiment in the environment of

computer and information science Electronic cells

and organs. Such electronic cells and organs not only

include the process of a single cell and tissue work,

but also describe the whole picture of the entire cell

and tissue work from a holistic perspective, becoming

a toolkit and analysis platform for biomedical

research. Through this computer platform of

electronic cells, as long as we input certain signals

and stimuli, electronic cells can reflect the changes

and reactions of cells in different times, different

spaces, and different substances through pictures and

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7542-1358

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3466-0651

numbers. As long as we tap the signal of the

electronic cell with the mouse, we can realize and

simulate the operation of gene knockout, gene

transfer, gene modification, prediction and display of

experimental results that are difficult to complete in

the molecular biology laboratory. It enables people to

see the impact of certain factors and links on cells, the

whole and life activities in real time. Therefore, it will

become a very simple and economical tool for

studying gene function and screening drugs, as well

as a guide for disease detection, diagnosis and

treatment (Shang, Zhang, Lu 2001).

Psychology is closely related to artificial

intelligence. Since the concept of artificial

intelligence was proposed in 1956, psychologists and

artificial intelligence researchers have conducted a lot

of collaborative research. For example, in May 2018,

the British journal Nature published a research result

jointly completed by neuroscientists at the University

of London and artificial intelligence researchers from

the DeepMind team in the UK. They used deep

learning technology to successfully simulate the

spatial navigation capabilities of the human brain.

This kind of research shows people the application

prospects of artificial intelligence technology in

306

Huo, L. and Sun, F.

Application of Artiﬁcial Intelligence in Mental Health Education in Primary and Middle Schools.

DOI: 10.5220/0011368000003444

In Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Artiﬁcial Intelligence and Healthcare (CAIH 2021), pages 306-312

ISBN: 978-989-758-594-4

psychology research (Huang, Huang 2018).

With the steady advancement of my country's

education modernization and the continuous

development of artificial intelligence (AI)

technology, primary and secondary schools in various

regions are actively building "smart campuses". In

the field of school mental health, some primary and

secondary schools in China have taken the lead in

introducing artificial intelligence psychological

services, using cutting-edge sensor technology,

image and language recognition, and big data

analysis to quickly discover students’ psychological

needs and help them actively respond to the current

school psychology. Difficulties in health work have

become a leader in mental health construction in

smart campuses.

2 CURRENT CHALLENGES IN

MENTAL HEALTH WORK IN

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY

SCHOOLS

2.1 The Psychological Needs of

Students Have Increased Sharply,

and the Allocation of Teachers and

Professional Abilities Are Relatively

Insufficient

On the one hand, in recent years, student

psychological status survey (Li 2019)

and hospital

diagnosis and treatment data (Xue, Xiao, Fu 2019)

show that the number of primary and secondary

school students’ mental health problems is increasing

year by year, and the incidence of learning anxiety

and interpersonal disturbances reaches more than

40%; Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus

pneumonia in 2020, the needs of students for

psychological care and support have become more

prominent. Therefore, the Ministry of Education

issued the "Guiding Suggestions for Strengthening

Mental Health Education in the New Semester of

Primary and Secondary Schools across the Country"

(Ministry 2020), emphasizing the psychological well-

being of teachers and students Analyze the health

status and formulate a targeted mental health

education work plan. On the other hand, judging from

the relevant data on the allocation of psychological

education teachers in schools, the allocation of

psychological teachers in primary and secondary

schools in various regions follows the principle of

combining full-time and part-time. However, it is

common for part-time psychological teachers to have

relatively weak basic knowledge, full-time

psychological teachers and those with psychology

majors. Background, the proportion of teachers with

qualifications of psychological counselors is low, and

even many schools are not equipped with

corresponding teacher resources (Zhang, Zhang,

Yuan 2019). Therefore, it is urgent to resolve the

contradiction between the supply and demand of

school mental health services.

2.2 Psychological Assessment Tools Are

Single, and the Accuracy of

Psychological Problem Screening

Needs to Be Improved

Domestic school mental health measurement

products, such as the most frequently used symptom

self-rating scale (SCL-90) and mental health

diagnostic test (MHT) are mostly symptom-oriented

diagnostic scales, which are more suitable for

screening a small number of students with mental

illness. Moreover, these scales are mainly designed

based on foreign norms and cultural expressions, and

it is difficult to comprehensively reflect the actual

status of domestic primary and secondary school

students' mental health, and there is the possibility of

ignoring the developmental needs of most mental

health students (Wang, Ma 2010). At the same time,

regardless of whether the revised scales abroad or the

domestic scales are independently developed, they

are used to detect the psychological state of students

during a certain period of time, and they are

susceptible to memory bias and other factors, may

exaggerate symptom questions or give false answers

(Zhu 2019). Therefore, the current judgment of

students' psychological problems mainly combines

the subjective experience of the psychological

teacher and the data results of the questionnaire,

which takes a long time and the accuracy needs to be

improved. Some schools may also have insufficient

software and hardware configuration for

psychological work, and teachers’ requirements and

standards for psychological tests. Insufficient

understanding of the steps, the scientificity,

pertinence and objectivity of the school

psychological assessment need to be improved.

Application of Artiﬁcial Intelligence in Mental Health Education in Primary and Middle Schools

307

2.3 Some Students Are Very Alert, and

It Is Difficult for the School to Find

the True and Comprehensive Crux

of the Problem

On the one hand, students’ self-awareness gradually

becomes stronger as they age, and they are very

concerned about their “image” in the minds of others.

Some students who do not understand psychological

counseling and confidentiality agreements are more

worried about sharing their distress with

psychological teachers. Received negative comments

and alienation from teachers and classmates. On the

other hand, some teachers do not change their roles in

time during the process of psychological counseling

for students, or lack professional psychological

counseling skills. They directly instill principles that

require students to comprehend by themselves,

making psychological counseling more like the

conversation of authoritative elders. Students lose the

right and freedom to explore themselves, examine

difficulties, and even feel dull and boring. Relevant

data show that only 20% of primary and middle

school students seek help from psychological

counselors in schools when they encounter

psychological dilemmas (Zhao 2020), Even if some

students are experiencing strained family

relationships, negative interpersonal distress, or

pressure beyond their tolerance, they "do not love,

dare to come, and don't have to come" in the school

psychological counseling room. It is difficult for the

school to find the key to the students' psychology in

a timely and accurate manner. Factors and

precipitating events.

The mental health of primary and secondary

school students has always been an issue of great

concern to everyone. In terms of school teachers and

environmental equipment, every school should have

a counselor and a counseling room, but the

counseling function is not optimistic, except that

mental health promotion is not in place. In addition,

even if students have psychological doubts, they do

not want to go to the school psychology room for

consultation. The main reasons are: ①The students

have a poor understanding of psychological

counseling and their attitudes are biased; ②I don't

want others to know my problems and thoughts,

thinking that the school counseling room is not a

"safe" place, and their "secrets" are likely to be

known by other students; ③ If a student has

psychological problems such as depression, in order

to protect the privacy of the student, parents are more

willing to choose a psychosocial institution for

consultation or treatment, but psychological

consultation generally requires an appointment and

has a time limit. It is difficult for students to deal with

psychological depression in time when they need to

be resolved (Zhang, Wang 2021).

3 APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL

INTELLIGENCE IN MENTAL

HEALTH WORK IN PRIMARY

AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

The application of artificial intelligence in mental

health work in primary and secondary schools

provides new ideas and paradigms for breaking

through the predicament.

3.1 Application Areas of Artificial

Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the research and

development of technological science for simulating,

extending, and expanding human intelligence (Shi

2018). On the basis of helping people with production

and processing, researchers have begun to increase

the social nature of artificial intelligence, and services

and social robots have become the focus of the

application field. The early exploration mainly

focused on simple and conventional human-computer

interaction such as providing information,

educational assistance, and accompanying

entertainment. For example, the chat robot Eliza

communicates with users through question and

answer, but cannot predict and understand human

language expression (Maudldin 1994); Since then,

robots such as NAO, Rrobotic, and Softbank have

been used in institutions and fields such as medical

care and special education (Dawej, Sutherland, Barco

2019), For example, by interacting with children

high-five, praise to distract attention during

vaccination (Berantn 2013), Rehabilitation training

for children with autism through course modules (Li

2016) and so on.

In recent years, artificial intelligence has

gradually targeted a wider group of people. In

primary and secondary schools, social robots can

assist children's language learning and guide

children's altruistic behavior; Moreover, children will

endow robots with anthropomorphic characteristics

and treat them as companions with equal rights,

which verifies that users can establish positive social

relationships and even attachment to artificial

intelligence (Graafmmad 2015).

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3.2 The Application of Artificial

Intelligence in School Mental

Health Services

In our country, a series of policies such as the

"Development Plan for the New Generation of

Artificial Intelligence" have elevated the research on

the psychology and behavior of artificial intelligence

to the height of the national strategy. A large number

of research and development work has been carried

out and applied in many fields. Taking the AI

decompression empowering robot introduced by

Suzhou Tianjiabing Experimental Junior Middle

School as an example, the research is well-suited by

exploring new technical support combined with

biosensing, Chinese recognition and transformation,

blood spectrum optical imaging, and psychological

counseling case big data. Assist schools and

psychology teachers to complete key tasks of primary

and secondary school mental health, such as

monitoring student stress and improving stress

resistance, and support the application of artificial

intelligence in primary and secondary school

psychological services in my country to be at the

forefront of innovation.

3.2.1 Accurately Detect Students'

Physiological Indicators and Stress

Levels

The AI decompression empowering robot can be

quickly tested for all students in the school. Through

the collection of physiological data such as heart rate

variability (HRV) and acceleration pulse wave

(APG), as well as comparison with the 200,000 Asian

norms, the students can be physically and mentally

stressed and autonomous. Quantitatively judge the

degree of nerve balance, blood vessels and sleep

conditions, and provide test results within <3 min; At

the same time, combined with regular questionnaire

surveys of students and parents, the system collects

personalized information of students for the next step

of human-computer dialogue consulting services for

students in need.

3.2.2 Regulate the Emotional State of

Students, Soothe Body and Mind in

Time

After getting the preliminary test results, students can

enter a special password to enter the decompression

empowerment warehouse. The design of the

decompression empowerment warehouse space is in

line with the principles of psychological counseling,

with darker lights and comfortable seats, and single-

sided glass to help students gain a sense of security.

The AI decompression empowerment robot helps

students relax by playing soothing music, guiding and

adjusting their breathing; Encouraging speech and

anthropomorphic interaction can also be used to

strengthen students' emotional feedback, thereby

promoting students' emotional expression and

emotional control.

3.2.3 Change the Cognitive Model, Improve

Communication and Anti-stress Ability

The AI decompression empowerment robot can ask

appropriate questions based on students' background

information and big data analysis, and guide them to

explore the reasons for their own psychological

confusion. During the consultation process, the AI

decompression empowering robot collects student

information in real time through multiple systems

such as voice, physiology, and facial expressions,

adjusts counseling strategies, and combines

psychological counseling methods such as "psych

drama" and "empty chair" to change the cognitive

model of students. For example, when discussing

conflicts with parents, the AI decompression

empowerment robot will let students try to sit on the

"parent's chair" and think about the focus of the

argument from the parent's perspective. It can not

only help students resolve current family conflicts,

but also promote the development of their empathy

ability, thereby improving students' stress resistance

and interpersonal communication level.

3.2.4 Issue a Recommendation Report for

Students, Parents and Schools

After the consultation, the AI decompression

empowerment robot will conduct consultation

feedback in accordance with the principle of

confidentiality, including issuing stress and stress

resistance reports to students to facilitate their

understanding of their own conditions; Suggest

reports to parents to guide them how to get along with

their children in daily life; Give the school an overall

analysis report and help the school establish an

electronic file system. In this way, through the

construction of a supportive environment such as

psychological education, home-school cooperation,

and school management, it helps students obtain a

system that is more beneficial to their own

development, and is more resilient to face the

challenges of growth.

Application of Artiﬁcial Intelligence in Mental Health Education in Primary and Middle Schools

309

Figure 1: Psychological consultation auxiliary reasoning model for mental health service calculation.

The guiding role of psychological counseling

theory in the calculation of mental health services is

to establish a psychological counseling auxiliary

reasoning model for the calculation of mental health

services. As shown in Figure 1. The model reasoning

process is as follows: input the visitor's data

(language, behavior, parameters, images, videos), use

image processing and data analysis techniques to

extract features, and then use machine learning

algorithms to obtain classification results based on

relevant psychological counseling theories; The

output is the evaluation and prediction of the internal

mental state model of the visitor obtained according

to the aforementioned method, and it is presented to

the psychologist and the visitor with various display

techniques, which then plays a role in assisting the

psychological consultation process.

4 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

PROMOTES INNOVATION IN

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

IN PRIMARY AND

SECONDARY SCHOOLS

With the promotion of educational reform and

positive psychology, the current mental health

services in primary and secondary schools pay more

attention to all students and emphasize the promotion

of the healthy growth of students' personality and the

development of their potential. The exploration of

artificial intelligence in school mental health services

has broken through the limitations of the traditional

model, and may become an innovative point in the

construction of smart campus psychology, and

become an important assistant to psychological

teachers in primary and secondary schools.

4.1 Support Multi-dimensional

Physical and Psychological

Monitoring of All Students to

Improve Screening Time and

Efficiency

Artificial intelligence psychological testing can

effectively make up for the shortcomings of the self-

rating scale in the current school psychological

measurement, and improve the long time-consuming

process of calculating the measurement value by the

psychological teacher, analyzing the psychological

dilemma, and then negotiating with the student for

treatment. Utilizing the rapid measurement system

and the technical support for hundreds of people to test

at the same time, the artificial intelligence

psychological service enables the school to

systematically organize students to participate in the

test, comprehensively and quickly grasp the status of

the students, which greatly saves testing time and

labor costs. Moreover, the artificial intelligence

psychological service can establish student files

immediately after psychological consultation, which

is convenient for continuous and accurate observation

of students' psychological state and the results after

consultation. Artificial intelligence has significantly

improved the scientificity, professionalism,

standardization of software and hardware in

psychological work in primary and secondary schools,

and the immediacy and accuracy of results, laying a

solid foundation for the school's long-term

psychological work.

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4.2 The Human-Computer Interaction

Model Is in Line with Students’

Preferences and Encourages Them

to Actively Participate in

Self-psychological Construction

When artificial intelligence provides psychological

counseling services for students, it will explore the

problems and specific ways according to the students’

personality characteristics and living environment,

encourage students to face their own psychological

problems and contradictions, communicate and

confront each other, and sense their unconscious

intuitive thinking. Then through the adjustment on

the level of consciousness to achieve a state of

physical and mental consistency, in order to inspire

students to solve problems on their own, and

ultimately achieve the goals of self-improvement,

self-acceptance, and self-realization, and obtain the

development of a sound personality and the ability to

adapt to academics and society. improve. The current

artificial intelligence psychological service has also

developed mobile phone APP remote chat and

intelligent reminder functions, students can

communicate anytime and anywhere, share thoughts

and worries, and the APP will also send regular

greeting messages every day to provide continuous

psychological support, which increases the sense of

availability and timeliness. Of course, the defined

role of artificial intelligence psychological services is

a "good assistant", that is, sharing data processing,

intervening with mildly ill students, and popularizing

psychological knowledge; Psychological teachers are

still the executors of school psychological work and

are responsible for in-depth intervention and

complete tracking of students. Figure 2 shows the

appearance of mental health service robot.

Figure 2: Robot outline drawing.

4.3 Neutrality and Privacy Protection

based on Objective Algorithms Are

Conducive to Discovering More

Comprehensive Psychological

Factors

In the school mental health service, artificial

intelligence is positioned as a friend, communicating

with students on an equal footing in the image of

listeners and helpers, and students are the leaders of

conversations and the main body of seeking solutions.

The relaxed atmosphere, private conversation

environment and objective and neutral evaluation

reduce the resistance of students to self-exposure and

emotional expression. The emotional support and

positive feedback given by artificial intelligence make

students not feel that their self-esteem is threatened,

and express their demands and confusion without

worry. Relevant studies have confirmed that after

being informed that the psychological counselor is an

artificial intelligence psychological service system,

the individual feels less worried during the

consultation process (Zhang, Wang 2021); Moreover,

students will share topics such as the troubles caused

by the teacher-student relationship in the artificial

intelligence psychological service, which is rarely

mentioned in the actual communication with the

psychological teacher in the school. Therefore, the

natural neutrality, empathy and privacy of artificial

intelligence psychological counseling can help

students express confusion and privacy more fully,

help schools find more comprehensive psychological

causes, and reduce and avoid possible psychological

dilemma factors.

5 CONCLUSIONS

With the continuous development of smart terminals

and the continuous acceleration of mobile data,

artificial intelligence can not only provide a platform

for psychological intervention, it is more likely to

become the main force of psychological intervention.

Scientific research methods separate psychology

from philosophy, while artificial intelligence and big

data may bring psychology into life more deeply,

artificial intelligence can be widely used in mental

health screening and psychological counseling

services in primary and secondary schools. While

fully enjoying the convenience brought by the use of

new technologies, it is also necessary to ensure the

compliant use of big data, so as to ensure that big data

collected from the public will eventually become a

weapon rather than a threat to serve the public.

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311

6 SHORTCOMINGS AND

PROSPECTS

The construction of mental health services in primary

and secondary schools is a long-standing and

evolving topic, The "intelligent mental service

model" formed by organically combining artificial

intelligence psychological services with existing

mental health education and consultation is the

development direction of mental health work in

primary and secondary schools. As a cutting-edge

technology application, artificial intelligence

psychological services still need to further improve

the accuracy and comprehensiveness of physical and

mental detection, and obtain a wide range of validity

verification data support, and design a more

convenient application environment for areas and

schools with relatively weak psychological service

resources to help our country's primary and

secondary mental health actions move towards a full,

multidimensional, and efficient progress.

In the future, the development of artificial

intelligence technology in the field of bioinformatics,

in addition to the reasonable analysis and processing

of the data of the corresponding biological problems,

but also the ability to intelligently integrate the steps

of the experimental process. The 21st century is the

century of life sciences. With the rapid development

of artificial intelligence technology and biological

technology, the deep integration of the two is just

around the corner!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to show my deepest gratitude to my

friends, who have provided me with valuable help in

every stage of the writing of this thesis. Without their

impressive kindness and patience, I could not have

completed my thesis.

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