# Perla: A Conversational Agent for Depression Screening in Digital Ecosystems. Design, Implementation and Validation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.12875 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.12875/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 28 Aug 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [D4: a Chinese Dialogue Dataset for Depression-Diagnosis-Oriented Chat](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11764/) (2022)
- [Towards Reliable and Empathetic Depression-Diagnosis-Oriented Chats](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.05012/) (2024)
- [Enhancing Depression-Diagnosis-Oriented Chat with Psychological State Tracking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.09717/) (2024)
- [Development and Evaluation of HopeBot: an LLM-based chatbot for structured and interactive PHQ-9 depression screening](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.05984/) (2025)
- [S'olo Esc'uchame: Spanish Emotional Accompaniment Chatbot](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.01852/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Most depression assessment tools are based on self-report questionnaires, such as the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). These psychometric instruments can be easily adapted to an online setting by means of electronic forms. However, this approach lacks the interacting and engaging features of modern digital environments. With the aim of making depression screening more available, attractive and effective, we developed Perla, a conversational agent able to perform an interview based on the PHQ-9. We also conducted a validation study in which we compared the results obtained by the traditional self-report questionnaire with Perla's automated interview. Analyzing the results from this study we draw two significant conclusions: firstly, Perla is much preferred by Internet users, achieving more than 2.5 times more reach than a traditional form-based questionnaire; secondly, her psychometric properties (Cronbach's alpha of 0.81, sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 90%) are excellent and comparable to the traditional well-established depression screening questionnaires.