ABSTRACT:
This project focuses on building a mental health chatbot that delivers weekly assessments using the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire), GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder), and SHS (Subjective Happiness Scale). Developed in R using the Shiny package suite (shiny, shinyapps, shinyjs, etc.), the tool guides users through these three questionnaires, calculates scores, and presents the results in both a clear line graph and a data table. The chatbot is now successfully deployed and accessible online via ShinyApps.io, making it available to users on both desktop and mobile devices. The intention behind the chatbot was to make mental health check-ins more accessible and engaging, particularly through mobile-friendly interfaces. While the chatbot is not a diagnostic tool and only encourages users to seek professional care, it shows potential as a screening tool that may lower barriers to mental health support. Looking ahead, development efforts will focus on integrating this tool with WhatsApp to enable automated weekly reminders and check-ins, further enhancing its reach and usability. This project highlights how simple coding tools can be used to create supportive, accessible, and user-friendly mental health resources in a world where these resources are greatly needed. The link to the more easily accessible website where people would be able to utilize the mental health chatbot. Moreover, the R code of the application is available upon request.