The Chatbot as a Therapeutic Companion Tool for Depression in Breast Cancer Patients

Aims: Chatbot is a software that uses machine learning and aims to simulate a conversation by text or voice message. The Vik chatbot was developed to improve the quality of life of patients with cancer or chronic disease. The objective of this pilot study is to measure the mood of breast cancer patients before and after being accompanied by the Vik chatbot. Procedure: Patients were recruited when they first used Vik. They were filtered according to inclusion criteria (age > 18 years, breast cancer patients, under treatment, non-opposition, internet knowledge). They were not to be followed for depressive disorders or undergoing psychotherapy. The PHQ-9 questionnaire was used to assess symptoms of depression. The patients with a score greater than 5 were only included in the study (JO). The PHQ-9 was then re-proposed at d+15 and d+30. Results: Users recruited (N= 74) were between 26 and 78 years of age. The average age was 50 years. The overall satisfaction rate was 94%. The average score obtained at PHQ-9 before using the chatbot (d0) was 9.73 (SD: 2.02). At the end of the 30 days of the experiment it was 5.00 (SD: 2.82). The change in mood over time has increased as participants chatted with the chatbot. Conclusion: This study provides promising evidence that a virtual assistant designed to support patients has the potential to offer an attractive method of follow-up and could be complementary to traditional methods of therapy.