Perceived Empathy and Trust in Mental Health Chatbots: A Correlational Study among Psychology Students in Bestlink College of the Philippines
Authors: Johnvrey Xavier Renzal, Mark Christian Cabalquinto, Jhovi Delos Santos, MA Emmiemor Isip, Paul John Tugal
Advisers
Adora Angeline E. Babia, PhD
Discipline
Psychology
Abstract
Mental health chatbots are one of the platforms that are in the forefront that advocates for mental health. It has been built to encourage, support, motivate, and help the users to cope up with their mental health struggles. The user's perceived empathy toward a chatbot is important to determine its effectiveness and satisfaction. It's the chatbots’ ability to understand and acknowledge the feeling and emotion of the users. Trust, on the other hand, is a broader construct. It's the user's willingness to be vulnerable to the chatbots’ actions, such as its ability, benevolence, and integrity. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between perceived empathy and trust in mental health chatbots among 200 psychology students at Bestlink College of the Philippines, utilizing a quantitative, descriptive-correlational design and a structured four-point Likert scale questionnaire that assessed cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and trust, encompassing performance, process, and purpose. The analysis of the data were carried out using frequency, weighted mean, ranking, and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation, with participants selected through purposive-disproportionate stratified sampling (50 students from each year level). The findings indicated that students generally agreed that the chatbots exhibited both cognitive, which got a composite mean of 2.99, and affective empathy, which got a composite mean of 3.03, and they generally expressed trust in the chatbot that got a composite mean of 3.16, with ChatGPT being the most frequently used chatbot with 86% of the respondents use. However, the correlation analysis showed a negative relationship between perceived empathy and trust, suggesting that a higher perception of empathy did not correlate with increased trust. Based on these findings, the researchers developed a website called Besti. It has a specialized AI chatbot which can be utilized by the students to aid them with their mental health and academic studies.
Keywords
Mental Health Chatbot, Perceived Empathy, Cognitive Empathy, Affective Empathy, Trust in AI
How to Cite
Use the format below when citing articles from this publication.
APA 7th Edition
Cabalquinto, M. C., Delos Santos, J., Isip, M. E., Renzal, J. X., & Tugal, P. J. (2026). Perceived Empathy and Trust in Mental Health Chatbots: A Correlational Study among Psychology Students in Bestlink College of the Philippines. Ascendens Asia Singapore – Bestlink College of the Philippines Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Abstracts, 8(4), 183-183. Retrieved from https://ascendens.asia/AASgBCPJMRA/8/4/1336
Ascendens Asia Singapore – Bestlink College of the Philippines Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Abstracts (AASgBCPJMRA)
The Ascendens Asia Singapore–Bestlink College of the Philippines Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Abstracts (AASgBCPJMRA) compiles abstracts of research papers presented at Multidisciplinary Research Fests primarily organized by Ascendens Asia Singapore in partnership with Bestlink College of the Philippines.
Volumes
8 volumes
Issues
6 issues
ISSN
2661-4472
Publisher
Ascendens Asia Publishing Pte. Ltd.