Real World Testing of an Artificial Intelligence-enabled App as an Early Intervention and Support Tool in the Mental Health Referral Care Pathway
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Mental Health Issue
- Sponsor
- University of Plymouth
- Enrollment
- 76
- Locations
- 2
- Primary Endpoint
- Depression Severity
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- last year
Overview
Brief Summary
Mental health concerns are a large burden for individuals, healthcare systems, and the economy. Over a million people are referred to UK mental health services each year, but more than half only receive one session of workbook-based support. Many others have to wait over 12 weeks for assessment and treatment. Wysa is a digital health app with over 3 million users that uses an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot and a series of self-care exercises to provide mental health support and to help people develop strategies to manage their mental health and improve their resilience.
This project aims to examine the impact of using Wysa on patients' symptoms of anxiety and depression during the referral process for standard UK mental health services. Patients will be given access to Wysa at the point of referral to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme and can begin to explore the self-support tools, while they are on the waitlist for assessment and treatment. The investigators will gather a group of patients and members of the public to contribute to the recruitment of patients for the study, the methods we use to evaluate Wysa, and to provide insights on how best to share the results of our study with the general public.
The investigators will use the standard IAPT measures of anxiety and depression to look at the effect of using Wysa patients' mental well-being. These questionnaires will be provided through the app and the results will be compared with a waitlist control group. The investigators will examine whether Wysa can identify people who are experiencing severe mental health difficulties so that they can be provided with additional support. Users' levels of engagement with Wysa will be assessed and some participants will be randomly selected to do an interview so the investigators can get a better understanding of what people liked and disliked about using the app and why. Finally, the investigators will be evaluating the cost-effectiveness of Wysa compared with usual care.
The investigators expect that the study will show that Wysa helps reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in people who are on the waiting list for IAPT. If the study shows this positive impact, this will provide evidence to support the use of Wysa to improve the accessibility of mental health support in clinical pathways. The investigators will be publishing the results of our study in academic journals as well as in more generally accessible platforms.
Investigators
Edward Meinert, PhD
Associate Professor of eHealth
University of Plymouth
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Willing and able to provide informed consent;
- •Aged 18 years or older;
- •Ability to speak English to a secondary school standard;
- •Own a mobile device capable of supporting Wysa;
- •A valid email address;
- •Referred or self-referred to proceed through the standard IAPT care pathway.
Exclusion Criteria
- •Patients ineligible for the standard IAPT care pathway;
- •Patients with previous and current known major mental illness such as Schizophrenia, severe depression, any co-morbid neurological or neuro-psychiatric condition such as epilepsy;
- •Patients with current psychosis or a history of psychotic symptoms within the last 6 months;
- •Patients with suicidal ideation;
- •Patients scoring \> 15 points on PHQ 9;
- •Patients scoring \> 15 points on GAD-7;
- •Patients with significant cognitive disorders;
- •Patients with noted neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism or ADHD;
- •Patients previously diagnosed with a personality disorder;
- •Patients who been under the care of CMHT or a specialised mental health services in the last 2 years;
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Depression Severity
Time Frame: 3 months post-randomisation
Score on the PHQ-9, total scores range from 0 to 27 (higher scores indicated more severe depression)
Secondary Outcomes
- Anxiety Severity(3 months post-randomisation)
- Crisis Identification(3 months post-randomisation)
- Uptake Rates(3 months post-randomisation)
- Dropout Rates(3 months post-randomisation)
- Use of the App(3-7 months post-randomisation)
- Engagement(3-7 months post randomisation)
- Patient Perceptions of Acceptability(3-7 months post randomisation)
- General Health State(Measured at baseline and 3 months post-randomisation)
- Type of App Usage - Exercises Completed(3 months post-randomisation)
- Type of App Usage - Sessions Completed(3 months post-randomisation)
- Type of App Usage - Messages to Chatbot(3 months post-randomisation)