Frontiers in psychiatry
Efficacy of artificial intelligence-driven conversational agents (chatbots) for mental health promotion among university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis
By Shao C, Chen X, Qiao S and 3 others.
Abstract
Background
University students experience substantial mental-health burdens, while access to timely support remains uneven. AI conversational agents may provide low-threshold support, but the evidence base has expanded rapidly and prior reviews have often combined different age groups, intervention types, outcome domains, and comparator conditions.
Objective
To evaluate the effects of AI-mediated conversational interventions on depressive and anxiety symptoms in university students, while distinguishing outcome domains, comparator intensity, intervention architecture, and the evidential requirements for standardized post-intervention effect estimation.