Voice Activated Personal Assistant for Depression Among Older Adults

April 7, 2026 updated by: Allison Carroll, Northwestern University

Technology-Enabled Services to Support Caregivers of Older Adults With Depression

Participants will use Amazon Alexa to test a new voice-assisted program for mental health management. The participant will use this program to help with goal setting, reminders, and various other services. The participant may be supported by a caregiver, if available, or by research team member who will serve as a coach for the duration of the study to guide them with using the program. Participants will be asked to complete surveys and assessments about their experiences during the 12-week study period. Participants will be randomized into two groups: those who receive a guide to help them with utilization of the program to its fullest potential and those who do not receive that guide.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Older adults have often been on the fringe of benefiting from technology. However, voice-controlled intelligent personal assistants (VIPAs; e.g. Google Home, Amazon Echo), with their natural interaction style and ease of use, are a simple interface technology that may be useful to older adults with depression in the home setting. The caregiver or coach will be able to schedule and follow the interactions between the older adult and the VIPA. The VIPAs would potentially be able to provide functional, cognitive, and social stimulation as well as improve anti-depressant medication adherence through reminders to older adults.

The aim is to evaluate a VIPA that was designed to deliver behavioral activation prompts to older adults with depression. Through user centered design (UCD), the investigators have adapted the model for remote support with the aid of VIPAs that provide psychoeducation, as well as features that support social, cognitive, and functional stimulation and reminders.

The intervention will be 8 weeks, with a 4-week follow-up. During 8-week intervention, participants will be able to use Amazon Echo Show 8 and the study's VIPA program to set goals, reminders, and the like to help with their mood. Participants will also be asked to completed associated assessments. If caregivers are involved, they will also be asked to complete assessments.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

80

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
        • Northwestern University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion criteria:

  • Adults 65 years or older
  • English-speaking
  • Elevated depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 10)
  • Have Wi-Fi access
  • Cognitively intact (Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) score ≥17)

or

Inclusion criteria:

  • Adults 18 years or older
  • English-speaking
  • Provide support to an older adult (65 or older)
  • Have access to Wi-Fi
  • Demonstrating capacity to consent
  • Cognitively intact (Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) score ≥17 if 65 years or older)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Digital Mental Health Intervention (DMHI)
Participants randomized to Arm 1 will be sent an Amazon Alexa device, with a newly designed VIPA treatment program installed, and will receive a guidebook to help the older adult understand the device and utilize the VIPA treatment program to its fullest potential.
Behavioral: VIPA Treatment Program
Participants will receive and Alexa device with a behavioral activation program, along with a detailed guidebook about how to utilize the Alexa device and the VIPA program
Active Comparator: Control Treatment (CT)
Participants randomized to Arm 2 will be sent an Amazon Alexa device with guidebook to help the older adult understand how to use the device.
Behavioral: Alexa with Guidebook
Participants will receive an Alexa device with a detailed guidebook on how to use the device.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Depressive symptoms
Time Frame: 12 weeks

The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) PHQ-9 measures depression symptom severity on a scale of 0-27, with higher scores indicating greater symptom severity.

The PHQ-9 measures depressive symptom severity on a scale of 0-27, with higher scores indicating greater severity
12 weeks
Anxiety symptoms
Time Frame: 12 weeks
The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) measures anxiety symptom severity on a scale of 0-21, with higher scores indicating greater severity
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Adherence
Time Frame: 8 weeks
The number of times the Alexa device was accessed (Usage; # communications with TES-VIPA)
8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: David C Mohr, PhD, Northwestern University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 4, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 16, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 28, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 28, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

November 2, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 7, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STU#: 00211894

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Data will be shared through the NIMH Data Archive

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Data will be available 1 year after completion of the study.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Approval by NIMH Data Archive

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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