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. 2022 Nov 29;1(1):e38171.
doi: 10.2196/38171.

Adolescents' Well-being While Using a Mobile Artificial Intelligence-Powered Acceptance Commitment Therapy Tool: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study

Dana Vertsberger  1   2 , Navot Naor  2 , Mirène Winsberg  1
Affiliations

Adolescents' Well-being While Using a Mobile Artificial Intelligence-Powered Acceptance Commitment Therapy Tool: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study

Dana Vertsberger et al. JMIR AI. .

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is a critical developmental period to prevent and treat the emergence of mental health problems. Smartphone-based conversational agents can deliver psychologically driven intervention and support, thus increasing psychological well-being over time.

Objective: The objective of the study was to test the potential of an automated conversational agent named Kai.ai to deliver a self-help program based on Acceptance Commitment Therapy tools for adolescents, aimed to increase their well-being.

Methods: Participants were 10,387 adolescents, aged 14-18 years, who used Kai.ai on one of the top messaging apps (eg, iMessage and WhatsApp). Users' well-being levels were assessed between 2 and 5 times using the 5-item World Health Organization Well-being Index questionnaire over their engagement with the service.

Results: Users engaged with the conversational agent an average of 45.39 (SD 46.77) days. The average well-being score at time point 1 was 39.28 (SD 18.17), indicating that, on average, users experienced reduced well-being. Latent growth curve modeling indicated that participants' well-being significantly increased over time (β=2.49; P<.001) and reached a clinically acceptable well-being average score (above 50).

Conclusions: Mobile-based conversational agents have the potential to deliver engaging and effective Acceptance Commitment Therapy interventions.

Keywords: acceptance; adolescents; automated; chatbots; commitment; conversational agents; engagement; intervention; mental health; mobile mental health; psychological; psychology; self-help; self-management; smartphone; support; therapy; well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: DV and NN are consultants for Kai.ai. MW declares no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
An illustration of the latent growth curve model. T: time point; WHO-5: 5-item World Health Organization Well-being Index.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plot of the change in the WHO-5 scores across time. WHO-5: 5-item World Health Organization Well-being Index.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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