Clinicians’ Attitudes Toward Using Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health Interventions

Abstract

Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs), including teletherapy and artificial intelligence (AI) powered mental health interventions, such as chatbots and AI avatar-based therapies, have become increasingly prominent, enhancing accessibility and continuity of care while reducing costs. Although these tools are technically feasible and more widely available, the real-world uptake relies on the support of clinicians. Research suggests that factors such as clinicians’ demographic information, professional experience and general attitudes towards technology, influence therapists’ acceptance of DMHIs. The study investigated clinicians’ attitudes toward these DMHIs. A total of 678 clinicians participated, completing various measures on demographics, professional background, AI usage, and acceptance of AI-based intervention formats. Results indicated that technological factors, especially positive attitudes towards AI and previous mental health chatbot experience, were the most significant predictors of clinicians’ levels of acceptance, explaining a substantial portion of the variance in the acceptance of both AI chatbot (34%) and AI virtual therapist (38%) interventions. Understanding these predictors of clinicians’ acceptance is crucial for developing effective digital therapeutic tools and encouraging clinicians to integrate emerging technologies into mental healthcare. Further training and exposure to new technologies should be provided in graduate programs.

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