Assessing the Effectiveness of ChatGPT in Delivering Mental Health Support: A Qualitative Study

Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications are widely researched for their potential in effectively improving the healthcare operations and disease management. However, the research trend shows that these applications also have significant negative implications on the service delivery. Purpose: To assess the use of ChatGPT for mental health support.

Due to the novelty and unfamiliarity of the ChatGPT technology, a quasi-experimental design was chosen for this study. Outpatients from a public hospital were included in the sample. A two-week experiment followed by semi-structured interviews was conducted in which participants used ChatGPT for mental health support. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 individuals with mental health conditions.