Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Jul 1, 2023
Date Accepted: Mar 26, 2024
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Chatbot ELME for Everyday Life Mindfulness Experience: The effects of a chatbot-based intervention on stress and health-related parameters in a stressed sample
ABSTRACT
Background:
Stress levels and the prevalence of mental disorders in the general population have been rising in recent years. Chatbot-based interventions represent novel and promising digital approaches to improve health-related parameters However, there is a lack of research on chatbot-based interventions in the area of mental health.
Objective:
The present study investigated the effects of a three-week chatbot-based intervention guided by the chatbot ELME, aiming to reduce stress and to improve various health-related parameters in a stressed sample.
Methods:
In this multicenter, two-armed randomised controlled trial, 118 individuals with a medium to high stress levels were randomised to the intervention group (n = 59) or to a treatment-as-usual control group (n = 59). Chatbot ELME guided participants of the intervention group through three weeks of training based on the topics stress, mindfulness and interoception with practical and psychoeducative elements with two daily interactive intervention sessions via smartphone (á 10-20 min.). The primary outcome perceived stress and secondary outcomes mindfulness, interoception (interoceptive sensibility), psychological well-being, and emotion regulation (subfacets reappraisal and suppression) were assessed pre-intervention (t1), post-intervention (t2; after three weeks), and follow-up (t3; after six weeks). During both conditions, participants also underwent ecological momentary assessments of stress and interoceptive sensibility.
Results:
There were no significant changes in perceived stress (β03 = -.018; SE = .329; p = .956) and momentary stress. Mindfulness and the subfacet reappraisal significantly increased due to the intervention over time. Interoceptive sensibility and the subfacet suppression did not change; well-being increased in both groups. Momentary interoceptive sensibility increased in both groups over time.
Conclusions:
To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first chatbot-based intervention integrating contents of the health-related parameters stress, interoception, and mindfulness in an interactive format which provides a flexible use in everyday life. To gain insight into how the intervention can be improved to achieve its full potential for stress reduction, moderating and mediating variables could be examined. Clinical Trial: The trial is registered at the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform via the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00027560; date of registration: 06 January 2022).
Citation
