Klos Maria Carolina, Escoredo Milagros, Joerin Angela, Lemos Viviana Noemí, Rauws Michiel, Bunge Eduardo L
Interdisciplinary Center for Research in Health and Behavioral Sciences (CIICSAC), Universidad Adventista del Plata (UAP)., National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET)., Libertador San Martín, Entre Ríos, Argentina.
X2AI inc., San Francisco, CA, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2021 Aug 12;5(8):e20678. doi: 10.2196/20678.
Artificial intelligence-based chatbots are emerging as instruments of psychological intervention; however, no relevant studies have been reported in Latin America.
The objective of the present study was to evaluate the viability, acceptability, and potential impact of using Tess, a chatbot, for examining symptoms of depression and anxiety in university students.
This was a pilot randomized controlled trial. The experimental condition used Tess for 8 weeks, and the control condition was assigned to a psychoeducation book on depression. Comparisons were conducted using Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon tests for depressive symptoms, and independent and paired sample t tests to analyze anxiety symptoms.
The initial sample consisted of 181 Argentinian college students (158, 87.2% female) aged 18 to 33. Data at week 8 were provided by 39 out of the 99 (39%) participants in the experimental condition and 34 out of the 82 (41%) in the control group. On an average, 472 (SD 249.52) messages were exchanged, with 116 (SD 73.87) of the messages sent from the users in response to Tess. A higher number of messages exchanged with Tess was associated with positive feedback (F=4.37; P=.02). No significant differences between the experimental and control groups were found from the baseline to week 8 for depressive and anxiety symptoms. However, significant intragroup differences demonstrated that the experimental group showed a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms; no such differences were observed for the control group. Further, no significant intragroup differences were found for depressive symptoms.
The students spent a considerable amount of time exchanging messages with Tess and positive feedback was associated with a higher number of messages exchanged. The initial results show promising evidence for the usability and acceptability of Tess in the Argentinian population. Research on chatbots is still in its initial stages and further research is needed.
基于人工智能的聊天机器人正在成为心理干预的工具；然而，拉丁美洲尚未有相关研究报道。
本研究的目的是评估使用聊天机器人苔丝来检查大学生抑郁和焦虑症状的可行性、可接受性及潜在影响。
这是一项试点随机对照试验。实验组使用苔丝8周，对照组则被分配一本关于抑郁症的心理教育书籍。使用曼-惠特尼U检验和威尔科克森检验对抑郁症状进行比较，使用独立样本和配对样本t检验分析焦虑症状。
初始样本包括181名年龄在18至33岁之间的阿根廷大学生（158名，87.2%为女性）。实验组99名参与者中有39名（39%）和对照组82名参与者中有34名（41%）提供了第8周的数据。平均交换了472条（标准差249.52）信息，其中116条（标准差73.87）是用户回复苔丝的信息。与苔丝交换的信息数量越多，得到的积极反馈越多（F = 4.37；P = 0.02）。从基线到第8周，实验组和对照组在抑郁和焦虑症状方面没有显著差异。然而，组内显著差异表明，实验组的焦虑症状显著减轻；对照组未观察到此类差异。此外，抑郁症状在组内未发现显著差异。
学生们花了大量时间与苔丝交换信息，积极反馈与更多的信息交换相关。初步结果显示了苔丝在阿根廷人群中可用性和可接受性的有力证据。聊天机器人的研究仍处于初始阶段，需要进一步研究。
