The Development of A Safe Haven for Asian and Asian American (ASHAAA)’s Stress Assistant: A Protocol for Developing An Online Burnout Intervention

Burnout (i.e., exhaustion, depersonalization, and inefficacy) is an increasingly concerning issue in student populations. Asian American students, like other Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), may experience additional susceptibility to burnout due to racism and internalized stereotypes (e.g., pressure to succeed as a model minority). However, burnout interventions do not typically account for identity-based factors (e.g., discrimination, narrow definitions of success). Given the low mental health literacy and high mental health stigma in the Asian American community, providing culturally informed psychoeducation and actionable recommendations in non-stigmatizing ways may increase Asian American students' engagement with burnout interventions. In this protocol paper, we described the development of a psychoeducational, burnout prevention chatbot created by the A Safe Haven for Asians and Asian Americans (ASHAAA) work team, using community-engaged research principles. The chatbot, named ASHAAA’s Stress Assistant (ASA), intends to provide culturally informed psychoeducation on burnout reduction and prevention in a user-oriented and conversational way for Asian American students in higher education. ASA aims to increase the accessibility of basic psychoeducational information by posing fewer structural barriers than conventional, human-to-human psychological services. A community partner organization helped invite students to an unstructured discussion session on delivery style and content, informing subsequent chatbot training. This protocol provides a replicable roadmap for incorporating novel and contemporary technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence) in early-stage psychoeducational interventions to address burnout in underserved, marginalized communities. Future research should examine the feasibility and effectiveness of this intervention in practice.