# Designing for emotion regulation interventions: an agenda for HCI theory and research

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.00118 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.00118/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 31 Mar 2022.

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Mapping Caregiver Needs to AI Chatbot Design: Strengths and Gaps in Mental Health Support for Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregivers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.15047/) (2025)
- [AI on My Shoulder: Supporting Emotional Labor in Front-Office Roles with an LLM-based Empathetic Coworker](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.02408/) (2024)
- [Frictionless Love: Associations Between AI Companion Roles and Behavioral Addiction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.20011/) (2026)
- [Digital Emotion Regulation on Social Media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.13187/) (2023)
- [Empathic Responding for Digital Interpersonal Emotion Regulation via Content Recommendation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.07704/) (2024)
- [Emotionally Aware Moderation: The Potential of Emotion Monitoring in Shaping Healthier Social Media Conversations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.21089/) (2025)
- [AnnoSense: A Framework for Physiological Emotion Data Collection in Everyday Settings for AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.02680/) (2025)
- [Queuing for Civility: Regulating Emotions and Reducing Toxicity in Digital Discourse](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.00696/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

There is a growing interest in HCI to envision, design, and evaluate technology-enabled interventions that support users' emotion regulation. This interest stems in part from increased recognition that the ability to regulate emotions is critical to mental health, and that a lack of effective emotion regulation is a transdiagnostic factor for mental illness. However, the potential to combine innovative HCI designs with the theoretical grounding and state-of-art interventions from psychology has yet to be fully realised. In this paper, we synthesise HCI work on emotion regulation interventions and propose a three-part framework to guide technology designers in making: (i) theory-informed decisions about intervention targets; (ii) strategic decisions regarding the technology-enabled intervention mechanisms to be included in the system; and (iii) practical decisions around previous implementations of the selected intervention components. We show how this framework can both systematise HCI work to date and suggest a research agenda for future work.