Real-World Testing of an Artificial Intelligence Conversational Agent as an Early Intervention and Support Tool in the Mental Health Referral Care Pathway: A Mixed-Methods Study
Although sample size limited the analysis, participant feedback highlighted its potential to supplement clinical services. Our study findings suggest that the change of depression score is similar in both arms thus indicating that there is no evidence that Wysa treats depression in this study. However, limited sample size could have influenced this. Key lessons to improve the quality of effectiveness studies of digital health technologies were identified.
Authors
- Céire Costelloe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3475-7525)
- Emma V. Taylor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8612-4738)
- Rohit Shankar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1183-6933)
- Ananya Ananthakrishnan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0292-3923)
- Martin Orr
- Madison Milne-Ives
- Edward Meinert
- Alina Paik
- Becky Inkster
Institutions
- Institute of Cancer Research (GB)
- Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- Wye College (GB)
- Newcastle University (GB)
- University of Plymouth (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- International Journal of Social Psychiatry
- Published
- 2026-03-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640251415507
- Primary Topic
- Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00