Current Landscape and Future Directions for Mental Health Conversational Agents for Youth: Scoping Review.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Conversational agents (CAs; chatbots) are systems with the ability to interact with users using natural human dialogue. They are increasingly used to support interactive knowledge discovery of sensitive topics such as mental health topics. While much of the research on CAs for mental health has focused on adult populations, the insights from such research may not apply to CAs for youth.

Objective

This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the state-of-the-art research on mental health CAs for youth.

Methods

Following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, we identified 39 peer-reviewed studies specific to mental health CAs designed for youth across 4 databases, including ProQuest, Scopus, Web of Science, an

SUBMITTER: Park JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11909484 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature