The Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapist Chatbot-Based Intervention on Reducing Social Anxiety and Depression in Male High School Students of Qom Province: A Cluster Randomized Trial

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Male high school students have problems in the context of social anxiety and depression. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of determine the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral therapist chatbot-based intervention on reducing social anxiety and depression in male high school students of Qom province: a cluster randomized trial.

Methodology: This research was a quasi-experimental with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design in two groups. The research population was male high school students of Qom province in the 2024-5 academic years. In this research, two classes were selected as samples using a cluster random sampling method and one of the groups was randomly assigned as an intervention group with a cognitive-behavioral therapist chatbot, and the other group was trained as an active control group with non-interactive mental-health content. Both groups were trained for 8 weeks (five days a week and 15 to 20 minutes a day) and in the assessment stages were answered to the Social Anxiety Questionnaire among Adolescents (La Greca & Lopez, 1998) and Patient Health Questionnaire (Kroenke et al., 2001). The data of this study were analyzed using the mixed effects model method in SPSS-29 software at a significance level of 0.05.

Findings: The results of this research showed that the cognitive-behavioral therapist chatbot-based intervention significantly reduced social anxiety and depression in male high school students (P<0.001).

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, to improve psychological characteristics, especially reducing social anxiety and depression can be used from cognitive-behavioral therapist chatbot-based intervention method.