Hopelab, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Department of Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019 Oct 31;7(10):e15018. doi: 10.2196/15018.
BACKGROUND: Positive psychology interventions show promise for reducing psychosocial distress associated with health adversity and have the potential to be widely disseminated to young adults through technology. OBJECTIVE: This pilot randomized controlled trial examined the feasibility of delivering positive psychology skills via the Vivibot chatbot and its effects on key psychosocial well-being outcomes in young adults treated for cancer. METHODS: Young adults (age 18-29 years) were recruited within 5 years of completing active cancer treatment by using the Vivibot chatbot on Facebook messenger. Participants were randomized to either immediate access to Vivibot content (experimental group) or access to only daily emotion ratings and access to full chatbot content after 4 weeks (control). Created using a human-centered design process with young adults treated for cancer, Vivibot content includes 4 weeks of positive psychology skills, daily emotion ratings, video, and other material produced by survivors, and periodic feedback check-ins. All participants were assessed for psychosocial well-being via online surveys at baseline and weeks 2, 4, and 8. Analyses examined chatbot engagement and open-ended feedback on likability and perceived helpfulness and compared experimental and control groups with regard to anxiety and depression symptoms and positive and negative emotion changes between baseline and 4 weeks. To verify the main effects, follow-up analyses compared changes in the main outcomes between 4 and 8 weeks in the control group once participants had access to all chatbot content. RESULTS: Data from 45 young adults (36 women; mean age: 25 [SD 2.9]; experimental group: n=25; control group: n=20) were analyzed. Participants in the experimental group spent an average of 74 minutes across an average of 12 active sessions chatting with Vivibot and rated their experience as helpful (mean 2.0/3, SD 0.72) and would recommend it to a friend (mean 6.9/10; SD 2.6). Open-ended feedback noted its nonjudgmental nature as a particular benefit of the chatbot. After 4 weeks, participants in the experimental group reported an average reduction in anxiety of 2.58 standardized t-score units, while the control group reported an increase in anxiety of 0.7 units. A mixed-effects models revealed a trend-level (P=.09) interaction between group and time, with an effect size of 0.41. Those in the experimental group also experienced greater reductions in anxiety when they engaged in more sessions (z=-1.9, P=.06). There were no significant (or trend level) effects by group on changes in depression, positive emotion, or negative emotion. CONCLUSIONS: The chatbot format provides a useful and acceptable way of delivering positive psychology skills to young adults who have undergone cancer treatment and supports anxiety reduction. Further analysis with a larger sample size is required to confirm this pattern.
背景:积极心理学干预措施显示出减轻与健康逆境相关的心理社会困扰的潜力,并且有可能通过技术广泛传播给年轻人。
目的:本试点随机对照试验研究了通过 Vivibot 聊天机器人提供积极心理学技能的可行性,以及其对接受癌症治疗的年轻成年人主要心理社会福祉结果的影响。
方法:通过 Facebook messenger 上的 Vivibot 聊天机器人,在癌症治疗结束后 5 年内招募年龄在 18-29 岁的年轻人。参与者被随机分配到立即获得 Vivibot 内容(实验组)或仅获得每日情绪评分和 4 周后获得完整聊天机器人内容(对照组)。Vivibot 内容是使用以人为中心的设计过程与接受癌症治疗的年轻人共同创建的,包括 4 周的积极心理学技能、每日情绪评分、视频和幸存者制作的其他材料,以及定期的反馈检查。所有参与者在基线以及第 2、4 和 8 周通过在线调查评估心理社会福祉。分析检查了聊天机器人的参与度以及对可爱性和感知有用性的开放性反馈,并比较了实验组和对照组的焦虑和抑郁症状以及基线和 4 周之间的积极和消极情绪变化。为了验证主要效果,在对照组参与者获得所有聊天机器人内容后,对控制组 4 至 8 周之间的主要结果变化进行了后续分析。
结果:对 45 名年轻人(36 名女性;平均年龄:25 [SD 2.9];实验组:n=25;对照组:n=20)的数据进行了分析。实验组参与者平均每次活动花费 74 分钟,平均进行 12 次聊天,并评价他们的体验有帮助(平均 2.0/3,SD 0.72),并会向朋友推荐(平均 6.9/10;SD 2.6)。开放性反馈指出,其非评判性是聊天机器人的一个特别好处。4 周后,实验组参与者的焦虑平均减少 2.58 个标准化 t 分数单位,而对照组的焦虑则增加了 0.7 个单位。混合效应模型显示,组间和时间之间存在趋势水平(P=.09)的交互作用,效应大小为 0.41。当实验组参与者进行更多的会话时,他们也经历了更大的焦虑减轻(z=-1.9,P=.06)。组间对抑郁、积极情绪或消极情绪的变化没有显著(或趋势水平)的影响。
结论:聊天机器人形式为接受过癌症治疗的年轻人提供了一种有用且可接受的积极心理学技能的方式,并支持焦虑的减轻。需要更大的样本量进一步分析以确认这种模式。
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