School of Business, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Bielefeld, Interaktion 1, 33619, Bielefeld, Germany.
Mental Health Research and Treatment Centre Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
BMC Psychiatry. 2024 Oct 14;24(1):682. doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-06134-y.
Men and women differ in the mental health issues they typically face. This study aims to describe gender differences in preferences for mental health treatment options and specifically tries to identify participants who prefer AI-based therapy over traditional face-to-face therapy.
A nationally representative sample of 2,108 participants (53% female) aged 18 to 74 years completed a choice-based conjoint analysis (CBCA). Within the CBCA, participants evaluated twenty choice sets, each describing three treatment variants in terms of provider, content, costs, and waiting time.
Costs (relative importance [RI] = 55%) emerged as the most critical factor when choosing between treatment options, followed by provider (RI = 31%), content (RI = 10%), and waiting time (RI = 4%). Small yet statistically significant differences were observed between women and men. Women placed greater importance on the provider, while men placed greater importance on cost and waiting time. Age and previous experience with psychotherapy and with mental health apps were systematically related to individual preferences but did not alter gender effects. Only a minority (approximately 8%) of participants preferred AI-based treatment to traditional therapy.
Overall, affordable mental health treatments performed by human therapists are consistently favored by both men and women. AI-driven mental health apps should align with user preferences to address psychologist shortages. However, it is uncertain whether they alone can meet the rising demand, highlighting the need for alternative solutions.
男性和女性在他们通常面临的心理健康问题上存在差异。本研究旨在描述心理健康治疗选择偏好方面的性别差异，并特别试图确定更喜欢基于人工智能的治疗而不是传统面对面治疗的参与者。
一项针对年龄在 18 至 74 岁之间的 2108 名参与者（女性占 53%）的全国代表性样本完成了基于选择的联合分析（CBCA）。在 CBCA 中，参与者评估了 20 个选择集，每个选择集都从提供者、内容、成本和等待时间三个方面描述了三种治疗方案。
成本（相对重要性 [RI] = 55%）是选择治疗方案时最关键的因素，其次是提供者（RI = 31%）、内容（RI = 10%）和等待时间（RI = 4%）。女性和男性之间观察到微小但具有统计学意义的差异。女性更看重提供者，而男性更看重成本和等待时间。年龄以及之前接受过心理治疗和心理健康应用程序的经验与个人偏好系统相关，但不会改变性别效应。只有少数（约 8%）参与者更喜欢基于人工智能的治疗而不是传统治疗。
总体而言，由人类治疗师提供的负担得起的心理健康治疗方法一直受到男性和女性的青睐。人工智能驱动的心理健康应用程序应根据用户偏好进行调整，以解决心理学家短缺的问题。然而，尚不确定它们是否能够单独满足不断增长的需求，这突显了需要替代解决方案。
