In this file photo, provided by the Army in October 2019, soldiers listen to internet lessons using their mobile phones at a military base in Yangju, north of Seoul, after the government allowed rank-and-file service members’ mobile phone use on a trial run.
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Defense jointly announced the launch of a digital mental health service for soldiers starting on Monday.
The service was developed by upgrading and reconfiguring the “digital wellness” service currently under development at Hanyang University, with support from the ICT ministry’s project titled “Development of prevention and management platform technology for non-face-to-face emotional disorders in the post-COVID era.”
When accessing the service, soldiers can maintain a daily military life diary. The service utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze users’ emotional states and detect the risk of suicide or self-harm.
After composing their diary entry, users can engage in consultations by selecting the type, theme, and direction of the conversation with AI chatbots through WellmindGPT.
WellmindGPT is a conversational AI specializing in mental health developed with technological support from Microsoft.
The AI has learned from scenarios verified by mental health specialists and experts in psychological therapy, including Professor Kwon Jun-soo from Seoul National University Hospital.
Additionally, the AI can assess levels of depression, anxiety, insomnia, stress, and recovery resilience.
Each questionnaire is provided by digitizing assessment scales such as CESD-10-D (depression), GAD-7 (anxiety), and ISI-K (sleep disorder).
If users are classified as belonging to a high-risk group during the assessment, a pop-up guide is provided to contact the National Defense Help Call Center.
The service will be available to soldiers through the Nara Sarang Portal, a dedicated mobile application for military service personnel, or the Customized Welfare Service of the National Defense Welfare Portal until December next year.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
