Virtual human as a new diagnostic tool, a proof of concept study in the field of major depressive disorders.

ABSTRACT: Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) are promising software to communicate with patients but no study has tested them in the diagnostic field of mental disorders. The aim of this study was 1) to test the performance of a diagnostic system for major depressive disorders (MDD), based on the identification by an ECA of specific symptoms (the MDD DSM 5 criteria) in outpatients; 2) to evaluate the acceptability of such an ECA. Patients completed two clinical interviews in a randomized order (ECA versus psychiatrist) and filled in the Acceptability E-scale (AES) to quantify the acceptability of the ECA. 179 outpatients were included in this study (mean age 46.5 ± 12.9 years, 57.5% females). Among the 35 patients diagnosed with MDD by the psychiatrist, 14 (40%) patients exhibited mild, 12 (34.3%

SUBMITTER: Philip P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5311989 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature