What’s the project?
The purpose of this project is to discuss and shape future research on AI chatbots in eating disorders. Through this project, we have two paid research opportunities:
1) Interview: We are recruiting young people aged 18+ who are living with/ have lived experience of an eating disorder or disordered eating and who have also used an AI chatbot in any way relating to their experiences to an interview study
2) Advisory group workshops: We are also recruiting young people aged 18+ to be part of a group of up to eight youth advisors, with knowledge or experience of disordered eating or an eating disorder, to be involved in online workshop discussions about the role and risks of AI chatbots and shape future research.
You can be involved in both an interview and the workshop if you would like to.
The research is being carried out by researchers at the University of Birmingham, as part of a wider study on ‘An Anthropological Approach to Eating Disorders: Developing an Innovative
Socio-cultural Strategy for Research, Treatment and Prevention’. This research has been reviewed and approved by the University of Birmingham Science, Technology and Engineering Ethics Committee [ERN_2680].
Find out more
We are recruiting up to 15 young people for an online interview and a group of up to eight youth advisors for two online workshops. The interviews and workshops will take place via Teams or Zoom.
If you are interested, we will ask you to read through the participant information sheet, and invite you to complete a consent form and a demographics form. We will work with you to arrange a date and time that works best for you for the interview and the workshop, but please note that for the workshops we will need to consider everyone’s availability.
We may invite you to a telephone briefing before your involvement to discuss the project and any support needs you may have, and to complete a safety plan if you would like to.
One interview: If you would like to be involved in an interview, this will be with a non-clinical researcher and will take place online.
As it is your own experiences of disordered eating that we are interested in, there are no set questions that you are required to answer. The interviewer will have a list of possible questions in front of them, but these are only a guide; if you are asked a question that you do not want to answer, please say so and the interviewer will move on to the next question. Interview questions may ask you about your motivations for using AI chatbots, your experiences, and your views on benefits and risks of AI chatbots. Interview questions may also relate to topics such as AI in the context of self-harm. We will completely understand if you do not want to answer any questions, or discuss any topics, that may arise during your interview. We would like to discuss any aspects of your experience that you feel it is important to highlight to the researcher.
Two advisory group workshops: If you would like to be involved as a member of the advisory group and engage in the workshops, there will be two workshop opportunities.
Please note that you do not have to take part in Workshop 2 if you took part in Workshop 1 – it’s up to you. The youth advisors in Workshop 2 might not be the same as those in Workshop 1, but we will make sure that everyone is up to date with discussions.
- Workshop 1 (approx. 2 hours)
The first workshop will be facilitated by a non-clinical member of the research team, where we would like to hear your ideas on the role of AI chatbots in eating disorders support, and help to design future research on the topic.
For example, we will ask questions related to the role of AI chatbots in different areas (e.g., prevention, support, living in recovery), as well as any risks for eating disorders, such as relating to self-harm and suicide.
The workshop will be interactive, involving group discussions and we may also use Zoom/Teams breakout rooms to have small group discussions too.
You will be asked to sign a consent form before you take part in Workshop 1, and to complete a demographic form.
- Workshop 2 (approx. 2 hours)
In this second workshop we will re-cap key themes from the first workshops and discuss findings from an ongoing interview study at the same time, and your input will help us to analyse and shape the interview findings.
In this workshop, there will be an opportunity to provide feedback on and help to shape a new programme of research on the role of AI. For example, we might ask you to consider what impacts there should be from the research, as well as the appropriateness of the research methods we plan to use.
You may also have the opportunity to review any documents related to the research, such as a Plain English Summary.
- You need to be aged between 18-25 and based in the UK to participate.
- You will also need access to Teams/Zoom, with a working camera, as all interviews and workshops will take place online. We would like to ask you to keep your camera on for the workshops.
- For the interviews, we invite those with lived or living experience of an eating disorder or disordered eating. For the workshops, we invite those with knowledge or experience of disordered eating or an eating disorder to be involved.
We anticipate the interviews will last around an hour (£25).
We anticipate that each of the two workshops will last around two hours (£25 per hour).
The researcher may request a phone call with you to tell you more about the project and chat through your participation in it. We can offer you the option to complete a safety plan with us beforehand, and signpost you to relevant support services.
Please note that you will not be asked to share any information, or talk about anything, that you do not want to. However, discussing sensitive topics such as eating disorders and self-harm/suicide could be potentially upsetting. If you feel distressed during an interview or a workshop, you can take a break at any point and then return, or you can choose to leave. We will not ask you to provide any reason for doing this.
If you are interested in this opportunity, please email [email protected] (quoting ‘AI interview’ or ‘AI workshop’, depending on your preference) with brief answers to the following questions:
- What is your name?
- What is your year of birth?
- Are you based in the UK?
- Why are you interested in this specific opportunity?
- What is your general availability for either a 1-hour interview or a 2-hour workshop during the week, during the day and evenings?
- Please give details of any relevant experience
- Sometimes after talking about topics like mental health, people feel they need a little extra support or someone to chat to. What support do you currently have in place (e.g. supportive friends, family, health professionals or mental health charities)? Is there anything that we could do to support you or make your involvement experience better?
- How did you hear about this opportunity?
We are looking for up to 15 interview participants and up to eight advisors to participate in the workshops. The opportunity runs until mid-April, so you are welcome to contact us any time to participate before then but please note that we may have already started the study. Please contact us early, ideally by 9am on the 23rd March, if you are interested.
Please note that the McPin Foundation regularly promotes opportunities on behalf of other institutions; we are not responsible for the continuation or contents of further correspondence with any project partners where we are not listed as the project main point of contact.
