AbstractBackground
Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) may reduce treatment access issues for those experiencing depressive and/or anxiety symptoms. DMHIs that incorporate relational agents may offer unique ways to engage and respond to users and to potentially help reduce provider burden. This study tested WB-LIFE, a DMHI that employs Woebot, a relational agent that delivers evidence-based psychotherapies, among those with baseline clinical levels of depressive or anxiety symptoms. Self-reported depressive and anxiety symptom changes between baseline and end of 8-week intervention, as well as the association between demographic and clinical characteristics and each outcome, were measured
Methods
This exploratory, single-arm, 8-week study of 256 adults yielded non-mutually exclusive subsamples with either clinical levels of depressive or anxiety symptoms at baseline. Week 8 Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) changes were measured in the depressive subsample (PHQ-8≥10). Week 8 Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) changes were measured in the anxiety subsample(GAD-7≥10). Demographic and clinical characteristics were examined in association with symptom changes via bivariate and multiple regression models adjusted for WB-LIFE utilization. Characteristics included age, sex at birth, race/ethnicity, marital status, education, sexual orientation, employment status, health insurance, baseline levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms, and concurrent psychotherapeutic or psychotropic medication treatments during the study.
Results
Both the depressive and anxiety subsamples were predominantly female, educated, non-Hispanic white, and averaged 38 and 37 years of age, respectively. The depressive subsample had significant reductions in depressive symptoms at Week 8 (mean change= - 7.28, p<0.01); the anxiety subsample had significant reductions in anxiety symptoms at Week 8 (mean change= -7.45, p<0.01). No significant associations were found between sex at birth, age, employment status, educational background and Week 8 symptom changes. Significant associations between depressive and anxiety symptom outcomes and sexual orientation, marital status, concurrent mental health treatment, and baseline symptom severity were found.
Conclusions
The present study suggests early promise for WB-LIFE as an intervention for depression and/or anxiety symptoms. Although exploratory in nature, this study revealed potential user characteristics associated with outcomes that can be investigated in future studies.
Trial Registration
This study was retrospectively registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (#NCT05672745) on 05/01/2023.