AI-ABC Version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Brief Psychological Intervention for Adolescents with Complex Emotional Needs (AI-ABC)
IRAS ID
361465
Contact name
Franco Orsucci
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 1 days
Research summary
What is the aim of the project?
This project aims to design and create a virtual ‘coach’ powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to support young people receiving a brief talking therapy for Complex Emotional Needs. The AI coach will not replace the human therapist, instead it will help the young person to use what they learn in therapy in their day-to-day lives. We believe this will help speed up treatment and result in better outcomes.
Why is this needed?
A growing number of young people are seeking mental healthcare, and services are struggling to meet demand, leading to long waiting lists. To solve this, we need to find ways to deliver treatments more efficiently.
‘Complex Emotional Needs’ (CEN) is a term used to describe a cluster of difficulties such as feeling overwhelmed by emotions, difficulties getting along with others, risky or impulsive behaviour, and self-harm. CEN is one of the most common reasons why young people need support from specialist mental health services, but existing treatment options are lengthy and expensive. This means few young people can access them, usually only after reaching a crisis point.
We have already developed and evaluated a treatment for CEN that brings together key elements of existing talking therapies in a format that is quicker and simpler to deliver. We think that this approach can be further enhanced by creating an AI coach for young people to use in-between sessions and once sessions finish. The AI coach will support the young person to apply the skills learnt in therapy, which is vital for good outcomes.
What will the project involve?
The project will have three stages, all guided by young people with personal experience of CEN (young advisors). The first stage will involve individual interviews and group discussions with young people (aged 14-17) with CEN, their parents/carers, and youth mental health service staff. The aim will be to get a clear understanding of how those who would be impacted think the AI coach should work, and what could help or get in the way of it being used as planned.
In the second stage, we will use what we have learnt in the first stage to design, with our young advisors, an initial version of the AI coach. The coach will then be creating using existing AI software already used by the NHS (Microsoft 365 CoPilot). This AI software has good security features and can be trained to respond based only on specific sources of information (in this case, information about the therapy).
In the final stage, we will invite those who took part in the first stage to provide feedback on the AI coach, which we will use to create an updated version. Participants will again be invited to review this updated version, and it will be checked by members of the research team to make sure it performs as expected and works equally well for young people from different groups. We will then have a version of the AI coach ready for future research which will test whether it is effective in helping young people with CEN to recover more quickly, offers value for money and can be successfully rolled-out.
How will we share the findings?
We will share our findings with other researchers and people working in mental healthcare by writing an article for publication in a professional journal. We will share our findings with the public by creating a short video. We will work with our young advisors to make sure the video presents the key findings in a clear and engaging way.
REC name
London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/LO/0644
Date of REC Opinion
29 Sep 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion