Does Social Support from Persona-Driven Chatbots Encourage Continued Help-Seeking? The Role of Emotional Relief in Online Mental Health Communities

Persona-driven chatbots are increasingly used by online mental health community (OMC) users as complementary sources of social support, but little is known about how such support shapes emotional relief and continued help-seeking. Drawing on social support theory and the affective affordance perspective, this study examines whether perceived emotional relief mediates the relationship between social support from persona-driven chatbots and continued help-seeking intention. Social support is modeled as a second-order formative construct comprising informational, emotional, and companionship support. Survey data from 326 OMC users in China were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling and artificial neural network analysis. Results show that social support significantly increases perceived emotional relief and continued help-seeking intention, while perceived emotional relief partially mediates this relationship. Artificial neural network results identify emotional and companionship support as the strongest predictors of perceived emotional relief, and perceived emotional relief as the strongest predictor of continued help-seeking intention.