AIla: Artificial intelligence to assess levels of anxiety and treat anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: Introduction The most prevalent mental health conditions during childhood are anxiety disorders, which can negatively affect family interactions, academic development and social functioning. Treatment approaches involve Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the use of antidepressants or a combination of both. Unfortunately, the availability for anxiety treatments is limited, especially in disadvantaged communities and ethnic minorities. Therefore, Digital Health Technologies are useful resources that can be delivered through chatbots trained as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists to enhance overall access to mental health care. Methods This feasibility pilot developed a WhatsApp chatbot named AIla in order to help teenagers with anxiety disorder by providing inputs from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to this public. Six adolescents (15 to 17 years old) from the public-health system in Brazil diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder were chosen to evaluate an initial model of the chatbot. Initially, they took the Severity Measure for Generalized Anxiety Disorder at baseline. After 15 days interacting with AIla, they repeated the questionnaire in order to measure anxiety levels before and after the chatbot. Results The baseline anxiety level according to the questionnaire applied was seven. After the use of AIla, scores dropped to a value of three. Most teenagers considered AIla easy and enjoyable, while 10% of them had interaction problems for they considered its answers too long, which was promptly corrected. Conclusion Considering the limited availability of mental health treatment, chatbots based in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, when supervised in academic settings, can be important tools in order to expand the treatment range of anxiety disorders in childhood.
Authors: Rebeca Almeida Moura, Alberto Correia, Laiana A. Quagliato
Institution: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Language: English
Subfield: Applied Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4415238053
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