mHealth
Woebot chatbot for substance use
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
An 8-week fully automated Woebot SUD program showed pre–post drops in substance use, cravings, depression, and anxiety in a single-group study.
How this study connects
Role on claims
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Evidence for the claim as stated.
Past-month use occasions, AUDIT-C, DAST-10, PHQ-8, and GAD-7 improved (all P<.05). In-app craving ratings fell roughly by half by weeks 8–9. Engagement averaged about 15.7 use days over 8 weeks. Authors call the approach feasible and acceptable but note the need for controlled efficacy trials.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Effect sizes and settings differ across mhealth studies — digital vs clinic, trial vs observational — so results should not be pooled casually.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Open questions
Tensions this paper is part of
From concept pages' “where studies disagree.” Disagreement means the same question; scope means different assays, populations, or outcomes.
Effect sizes and settings differ across mhealth studies — digital vs clinic, trial vs observational — so results should not be pooled casually.
- Supports · MoodGYM improves population wellbeing
- Supports · Audio vs text produce-app RCT
Study at a glance
- Design
- Human experiment — Single-group 8-week pre–post usability/feasibility evaluation (no control)
- N
- N=101 · 101 enrolled; 51 completed the post-treatment survey
- Population
- Adults initiating a therapeutic chatbot for problematic substance use
- Outcome
- Past-month use occasions, AUDIT-C/DAST-10, cravings, PHQ-8, GAD-7 over 8 weeks
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
Inspect source passages
Woebot chatbot for substance use
These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.
101 participants formed the analytic sample
The analytic sample consisted of 101 participants who ultimately registered with W-SUDs and initiated use.
48.5% reported lifetime GAD
Most (73/101, 72.3%) reported a lifetime psychiatric diagnosis, most commonly generalized anxiety disorder (49/101, 48.5%) and unipolar depression (45/101, 44.6%), with 47.5% (48/101) reporting multiple lifetime psychiatric diagnoses; few (6/101, 5.9%) reported a SUD diagnosis, 43.6% (44/101) were currently taking psychiatric medication, and 25.7% (26/101) were currently in therapy.
Key findings
Past-month use occasions, AUDIT-C, DAST-10, PHQ-8, and GAD-7 improved (all P<.05). In-app craving ratings fell roughly by half by weeks 8–9. Engagement averaged about 15.7 use days over 8 weeks. Authors call the approach feasible and acceptable but note the need for controlled efficacy trials.
Methodology
101 adults who started Woebot for substance use (W-SUDs) completed an 8-week single-group pre–post evaluation of use occasions, AUDIT-C/DAST-10, cravings, confidence, PHQ-8, GAD-7, and pain.
Limitations
Without a control group, pandemic-era substance-use shifts and regression to the mean can explain change. Few participants had diagnosed SUD, and posttreatment completers were a subset of enrollees.
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