Mental health concerns are rising globally, prompting increased reliance on technology to address the demand-supply gap in mental health services. In particular, mental health chatbots are emerging as a promising solution, but these remain largely untested, raising concerns about safety and potential harms. In this paper, we dive into the literature to identify critical gaps in the design and implementation of mental health chatbots. We contribute an operational checklist to help guide the development and design of more trustworthy, safe, and user-friendly chatbots. The checklist serves as both a developmental framework and an auditing tool to ensure ethical and effective chatbot design. We discuss how this checklist is a step towards supporting more responsible design practices and supporting new standards for sociotechnically sound digital mental health tools.

翻译：全球范围内心理健康问题日益凸显，促使人们更多地依赖技术来弥补心理健康服务的供需缺口。特别是心理健康聊天机器人正成为一种前景广阔的解决方案，但这些工具大多未经充分测试，引发了对其安全性与潜在危害的担忧。本文通过梳理文献，揭示了心理健康聊天机器人在设计与实施中的关键缺陷。我们提出了一份可操作的核查清单，以指导开发更具可信性、安全性及用户友好性的聊天机器人。该清单既可作为开发框架，也可作为审计工具，以确保聊天机器人设计的伦理性与有效性。我们探讨了该清单如何推动更负责任的设计实践，并为建立符合社会技术要求的数字心理健康工具新标准提供支持。