Singapore 'Mindline at Work for MOE' mental health support

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Mindline at Work is a digital system devised and run by Singapore's Ministry of Education (MOE) that aims to support and improve the mental health and wellbeing of Singaporeans in the workplace.

The system comprises a series of personalised mental health tools, exercises, and support resources, including access to the Wysa chatbot, which guides users in self-care and self-management exercises.

System 🤖

Documents 📃

Singapore Ministry of Education (2022). MINDLINE AT WORK FOR MOE

Operator: Singapore Ministry of Education

Developer: Wysa

Country: Singapore

Sector: Govt - education; Govt - health

Purpose: Promote mental health
Technology: Chatbot; NLP/text analysis

Issue: Accuracy/reliability; Appropriateness/need; Effectiveness/value
Transparency: Black box; Marketing

Risks and harms 🛑

Criticism of Singapore's system primarily focused on the perceived limitations of the Wysa chatbot.

Transparency and accountability 🙈

Incidents and issues 🔥

Users complained Wysa is unhelpful, lacks empathy, and can be aggravating.
Others felt it is little more than a 'one-size-fits-all programme' that struggles to meet teachers’ specific needs.
A number of MOE employees suggested the ministry should be focusing on the underlying problem of overwork, a demanding performance appraisal system, large classroom sizes, and uncapped working hours.
Mental health, some teachers claim, is little more than a mere 'afterthought'.

Research, advocacy 🧮

Inkster B., Sarda S., Subramanian V. (2018). An Empathy-Driven, Conversational Artificial Intelligence Agent (Wysa) for Digital Mental Well-Being: Real-World Data Evaluation Mixed-Methods Study