@inproceedings{qi-etal-2026-care,
title = "{CARE}-{CR}: Context-Aware Routing and Expert Fusion for Multi-Preference Cognitive Restructuring",
author = "Qi, Hongzhi and
Wang, Liangcheng and
YU, Yijing and
Li, Jianqiang and
Yang, Bing Xiang and
Zhao, Qing",
editor = "Liakata, Maria and
Moreira, Viviane P. and
Zhang, Jiajun and
Jurgens, David",
booktitle = "Findings of the {A}ssociation for {C}omputational {L}inguistics: {ACL} 2026",
month = jul,
year = "2026",
address = "San Diego, California, United States",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.1030/",
pages = "20574--20588",
ISBN = "979-8-89176-395-1",
abstract = "While Large Language Models (LLMs) offer promising avenues for automated cognitive restructuring in mental health settings, current approaches predominantly focus on superficial positive reframing and lack the adaptability to balance conflicting therapeutic dimensions, such as empathy and rationality. To address these deficiencies, we propose CARE-CR, a context-aware framework that implements a decoupled optimization paradigm. We first train expert policies specialized for distinct therapeutic attributes rather than relying on a monolithic alignment strategy. To mitigate expert data scarcity, we introduce Dimension-Guided Hierarchical Monte Carlo Tree Search (DG-HMCTS) for data-efficient preference augmentation. At inference, a context-aware routing module dynamically predicts optimal preference weights to fuse expert outputs based on the user{'}s specific distress context. Extensive experiments demonstrate that CARE-CR achieves consistent improvements over strong baselines across multiple evaluation dimensions, including diagnostic accuracy, contextual appropriateness, task effectiveness, and overall helpfulness, while enabling controllable cognitive restructuring generation. The dataset and code are publicly available at https://github.com/HongzhiQ/CARE-CR."
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<abstract>While Large Language Models (LLMs) offer promising avenues for automated cognitive restructuring in mental health settings, current approaches predominantly focus on superficial positive reframing and lack the adaptability to balance conflicting therapeutic dimensions, such as empathy and rationality. To address these deficiencies, we propose CARE-CR, a context-aware framework that implements a decoupled optimization paradigm. We first train expert policies specialized for distinct therapeutic attributes rather than relying on a monolithic alignment strategy. To mitigate expert data scarcity, we introduce Dimension-Guided Hierarchical Monte Carlo Tree Search (DG-HMCTS) for data-efficient preference augmentation. At inference, a context-aware routing module dynamically predicts optimal preference weights to fuse expert outputs based on the user’s specific distress context. Extensive experiments demonstrate that CARE-CR achieves consistent improvements over strong baselines across multiple evaluation dimensions, including diagnostic accuracy, contextual appropriateness, task effectiveness, and overall helpfulness, while enabling controllable cognitive restructuring generation. The dataset and code are publicly available at https://github.com/HongzhiQ/CARE-CR.</abstract>
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%0 Conference Proceedings
%T CARE-CR: Context-Aware Routing and Expert Fusion for Multi-Preference Cognitive Restructuring
%A Qi, Hongzhi
%A Wang, Liangcheng
%A YU, Yijing
%A Li, Jianqiang
%A Yang, Bing Xiang
%A Zhao, Qing
%Y Liakata, Maria
%Y Moreira, Viviane P.
%Y Zhang, Jiajun
%Y Jurgens, David
%S Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026
%D 2026
%8 July
%I Association for Computational Linguistics
%C San Diego, California, United States
%@ 979-8-89176-395-1
%F qi-etal-2026-care
%X While Large Language Models (LLMs) offer promising avenues for automated cognitive restructuring in mental health settings, current approaches predominantly focus on superficial positive reframing and lack the adaptability to balance conflicting therapeutic dimensions, such as empathy and rationality. To address these deficiencies, we propose CARE-CR, a context-aware framework that implements a decoupled optimization paradigm. We first train expert policies specialized for distinct therapeutic attributes rather than relying on a monolithic alignment strategy. To mitigate expert data scarcity, we introduce Dimension-Guided Hierarchical Monte Carlo Tree Search (DG-HMCTS) for data-efficient preference augmentation. At inference, a context-aware routing module dynamically predicts optimal preference weights to fuse expert outputs based on the user’s specific distress context. Extensive experiments demonstrate that CARE-CR achieves consistent improvements over strong baselines across multiple evaluation dimensions, including diagnostic accuracy, contextual appropriateness, task effectiveness, and overall helpfulness, while enabling controllable cognitive restructuring generation. The dataset and code are publicly available at https://github.com/HongzhiQ/CARE-CR.
%U https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.1030/
%P 20574-20588
Markdown (Informal)
[CARE-CR: Context-Aware Routing and Expert Fusion for Multi-Preference Cognitive Restructuring](https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.1030/) (Qi et al., Findings 2026)
ACL