Reducing Depression and Anxiety in Argentine University Students through AI

Posted on
January 6, 2020

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the development of psychological intervention is in
the early stages and further research is needed to validate the efficacy of its impact on
improving mental health. Tess is a customizable AI chatbot that offers scalability of
emotional support services. This study includes a randomized controlled trial that
examined the use of Tess, the chatbot, vs. a self service psychoeducation intervention
delivered in Argentina.

The main goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of the chatbot during an eight week
period to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. The sample was composed of
University students ages 18 to 33, of which 87.2% were female. 50 participants completed
the depression measure, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9, Kroenke, Spitzer, &
Williams, 2001) ,and 63 completed the anxiety measure, Generalized Anxiety Scale
(GAD-7 - Newman, et al., 2002).

A t-test analyzed for independent samples (experimental group and control group)
indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the study groups
for depression (t(48) = 1.47; p = .089) and anxiety scores (t(61) = .87; p =.388). However, a t-test for related samples showed statistically significant differences for depression (t(26) =2.47; p = .020) and anxiety scores (t(26) = 2.15; p = .041) from pre- to post- intervention in the experimental group, and no significant differences were observed for the control group for anxiety(t(22) = 1,00; p = .327) and depression (t(29) = . 413; p = .683). Preliminary results indicate that using Tess is a promising tool for reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety in University students in Argentina.

Posted on
January 7, 2020
in
Research
category
Contact us
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

You Might Also Like

Company Updates

Mental Health Chatbots are Here to Help

As the medical field rapidly changes, so does the technology. Healthcare and mental health chatbots are here to help patients and doctors through the medical process.

Company Updates

The Importance of Talking About Mental Health in the Workplace

Employees are facing an increase of anxiety and depression due to the effects of the Pandemic. Talking about mental health in the workplace...

Company Updates

Helping Hand for Psychologists While Combating the Mental Health Crisis

While the end of the pandemic is in sight, the mental health crisis is far from over. With mental health professionals being stretched thin...

Company Updates

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Treatment Delivered by Artificial Intelligence

Tess, AI Chatbot, has been trained in a variety of emotional support evidence-based conversations. Among the different interventions...

Company Updates

AI chat assistant supports hundreds of thousands people everyday

Tess is an AI-Chatbot that has proven results of supporting emotionally different communities.

Company Updates

Dealing with Mental Health Issues After COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic, mental health concerns have been raised worldwide. Anxiety, depression, suicide, and domestic violence concerns...

Company Updates

Mental Health impact during COVID-19 | X2AI

The way we view mental health during COVID has shown the benefits and importance of integrating chatbots as a part of mental health services is that help can be escalated by lowering rates.

Company Updates

X2 collaborates with Balance from Johns Hopkins

The Johns Hopkins Balance program uses Tess - learn more about how they implemented it.

Research

Ethical Artificial Intelligence for Digital Health Organizations

This report id on the methods undertaken by X2 to develop an ethical code for organizations delivering emotional artificial intelligence (AI) services.