Technology matters: AI-driven tools in children’s mental healthcare: perspectives from young people and parents

TY - JOUR

T1 - Technology matters: AI-driven tools in children’s mental healthcare

T2 - perspectives from young people and parents

AU - Firth, Zoe

AU - Aicardi, Christine

AU - Oram, Stephen

AU - Cummins, Nicholas

AU - Wickersham, Alice

AU - Fisher, Helen

AU - Downs, Johnny

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Child and Adolescent Mental Health published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

PY - 2025/11/12

Y1 - 2025/11/12

N2 - Artificial intelligence may be able to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and predictiveness of mental health assessments, and public perspectives are crucial to ensuring these tools are implemented with fairness and accountability. We developed an artificial intelligence-driven tool to automatically analyse parents’ speech data, which if successful could be implemented in children and young people’s mental health assessments. To engage stakeholders with this project, we worked with a science fiction writer to produce two stories about possible futures of our tool, which we discussed in workshops with young people and parents. Here, we summarise key themes arising from this novel method of engaging the public in mental health research, and highlight considerations for clinicians and researchers creating novel technologies for children and young people’s mental healthcare.

AB - Artificial intelligence may be able to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and predictiveness of mental health assessments, and public perspectives are crucial to ensuring these tools are implemented with fairness and accountability. We developed an artificial intelligence-driven tool to automatically analyse parents’ speech data, which if successful could be implemented in children and young people’s mental health assessments. To engage stakeholders with this project, we worked with a science fiction writer to produce two stories about possible futures of our tool, which we discussed in workshops with young people and parents. Here, we summarise key themes arising from this novel method of engaging the public in mental health research, and highlight considerations for clinicians and researchers creating novel technologies for children and young people’s mental healthcare.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105021985230

U2 - 10.1111/camh.70045

DO - 10.1111/camh.70045

M3 - Article

SN - 1475-357X

JO - Child and Adolescent Mental Health

JF - Child and Adolescent Mental Health

ER -