Abstract

Background:Digital solutions are useful for chronic diseases like mental health disorders, where traditional healthcare cannot fulfill the unmet needs, and behavioral change is required for comprehensive disease management.
Study Design:we describe a psychology digital service that can help patients tackle the areas of prevention, management, and treatment of their mental and emotional health. All through a mobile app, it offers an integrated approach, combining digital content with the option for care treatment. Patients can complete an online psychological assessment through a bot, access digital content, and follow up with their psychologist if needed. We present the protocol, the methodology used by the application and the impact of its use in the first months after its launch.
Results:35,823 clients have voluntarily signed up for the program within a span of 9 months. After completing the bot’s mental health questionnaires, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm determined that 8.9% of users did not have any mental health problems, while the remaining 91.1% exhibited symptoms. Out of these individuals, 3,094 have received digital consultation treatment from the psychology team, which enabled personalized digital treatment for them.
Conclusion:the described psychology digital service has facilitated rapid psychological self-assessment, early detection of mental health problems, and, if needed, immediate assistance through audiovisual material, conversations with a chatbot, and online consultations with psychologists.

Keywords:Digital Therapy; Digital health; Mental health; Telemedicine; Bot; Artificial intelligence

Abbreviations:AI: Artificial Intelligence; NICE: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence