Attitudinal changes in self-disclosure through chatbots in career guidance: Factors encouraging disclosure difficulties among students needing support

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that chatbots can serve as effective tools to facilitate self-disclosure. This study explored factors that promote the disclosure of negative aspects in career guidance for vocational school students who require reasonable accommodations. The chatbot was designed to provide information that enhances understanding of society, schools, and companies, thereby encouraging free dialogue to deepen self-understanding. Responses were generated by ChatGPT-4o, which referred to pre-prepared external knowledge through retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to maintain linguistic consistency, simplify complex expressions, and promote positive phrasing. Ten characteristics of chatbots—including immediacy, anonymity, and fairness—were examined in relation to self-disclosure awareness. Participants were screened using ASRS-v1.1 and RAADS-14 for ADHD and ASD tendencies, engaged in dialogues with the chatbot via the LINE messaging platform, and subsequently completed a web-based questionnaire. Although the sample size was small and this study is positioned as preliminary, findings suggest that interactions with chatbots may contribute more effectively than human dialogues to enhancing self- and social understanding among students with ADHD or ASD tendencies. In particular, the characteristics of “anonymity” and “fairness” were found to significantly promote self-disclosure awareness, and providing information related to schools, companies, and society further supported this awareness.

Keywords: Self-Disclosure, Chatbots, Career Guidance, Reasonable Accommodation, Inclusive Education

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1006891