Adolescents’ Experience with a Conversational Agent for Depression

Abstract

Conversational Agents have been showing promise for depression in adults in the short-term. Although, there has been little research done for conversational agents (CAs) with depression in adolescents. This study aimed to determine adolescents’ user experience with Athenabot, a behavioral activation CA for depression. The study included 66 participants who interacted with Athenabot. Participants were aged 13 to 18 (mean = 14.12) and predominantly identified as female (56.1%). Participants’ confidence in the CA’s utility to improve mood significantly increased from baseline to post-intervention (p < 0.001). Adolescents provided an acceptable Net Promoter Score of 6.73. Positive themes from feedback included the CA being helpful and favorably viewed, while negative themes included its perceived audience-dependency and impersonal nature. Recommendations for improvement included reducing repetitive questions and enhancing personalization. Adolescents significantly preferred multiple-choice questions over typed response questions (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in preference for emojis, memes, or GIFs. Adolescents reported an increased confidence that the CA could improve their mood. While the CAs received acceptable support, feedback highlighted a need for improved engagement and personalization. Adolescents favored multiple-choice button questions over typed responses and preferred GIFs over memes and emojis, with no significant demographic differences.

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