Behavioral sciences
Development and Preliminary Evaluation of an AI Chatbot-Based Psychosocial Self-Management Program for Women with Infertility: A Non-Randomized Feasibility Study
By Lee J, Park S and Nam SH.
Abstract
Background
Women undergoing infertility treatment experience elevated perceived stress, anxiety, and difficulty identifying and describing their emotions (alexithymia), yet access to conventional psychological care is constrained by stigma, time, and cost.
Objective
To develop an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot-based psychosocial self-management program for women with infertility and to examine its feasibility and preliminary patterns of change in perceived stress, depressive symptoms, state anxiety, and alexithymia. Feasibility was the primary objective; the four psychological measures were secondary and are reported as exploratory.
Methods
A non-randomized, two-group pretest-posttest feasibility study was conducted with 37 women recruited sequentially from a single infertility centre in the Republic of Korea; the comparison group was recruited and assessed first (n = 19), followed by the intervention group (n = 18). The intervention group completed six chatbot sessions over two weeks. Outcomes were the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State subscale (STAI-S), and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20).