Background Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) have the potential to stimulate actual use of eHealth apps. An ECA’s design influences the user’s perception during short interactions, but daily life evaluations of ECAs in health care are scarce. Objective This is an exploratory, long-term study on the design of ECAs for eHealth. The study investigates how patients perceive the design of the ECA over time with regard to the ECA’s characteristics (friendliness, trustworthiness, involvement, expertise, and authority), small talk interaction, and likeliness of following the agent’s advice. Methods We developed an ECA within an eHealth self-management intervention for patients with both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic heart failure (CHF), which we offered for 4 months. Patients rated 5 agent characteristics and likeliness of following the agent’s advice before use and after 3 and 9 weeks of use. The amount of patients’ small talk interaction was assessed by log data. Lastly, individual semistructured interviews were used to triangulate results. Results Eleven patients (7 male and 4 female) with COPD and CHF participated (median age 70 years). Patients’ perceptions of the agent characteristics did not change over time (P>.05 for all characteristics) and only 1 participant finished all small talk dialogues. After 3 weeks of use, the patients were less likely to follow the agent’s advice (P=.01). The agent’s messages were perceived as nonpersonalized and the feedback as inappropriate, affecting the agent’s perceived reliability. Conclusions This exploratory study provides first insights into ECA design for eHealth. The first impression of an ECA’s design seems to remain during long-term use. To investigate future added value of ECAs in eHealth, perceived reliability should be improved by managing users’ expectations of the ECA’s capabilities and creating ECA designs fitting individual needs. Trial Registration Netherlands Trial Register NL6480; https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/6480

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic heart failure (CHF) often coexist and share periods of symptom deterioration. Electronic health (eHealth) might play an important role in adherence to interventions for the self-management of COPD and CHF symptoms by facilitating and supporting home-based care. Methods: In this pilot study, an eHealth self-management intervention was developed based on paper versions of multi-morbid exacerbation action plans and evaluated in patients with both COPD and CHF. Self-reporting of increased symptoms in diaries was linked to an automated decision support system that generated self-management actions, which was communicated via an eHealth application on a tablet. After participating in selfmanagement training sessions, patients used the intervention for a maximum of four months. Adherence to daily symptom diary completion and follow-up of actions were analyzed. An add-on sensorized (Respiro ® ) inhaler was used to analyze inhaled medication adherence and inhalation technique. Results: In total, 1148 (91%) of the daily diaries were completed on the same day by 11 participating patients (mean age 66.8 ± 2.9 years; moderate (55%) to severe (45%) COPD; 46% midrange left ventricular function (LVF) and 27% reduced LVF). Seven patients received a total of 24 advised actions because of increased symptoms of which 11 (46%) were followed-up. Of the 13 (54%) unperformed advised actions, six were "call the case manager". Adherence to inhaled medication was 98.4%, but 51.9% of inhalations were performed incorrectly, with "inhaling too shortly" (<1.25 s) being the most frequent error (79.6%). Discussion: Whereas adherence to completing daily diaries was high, advised actions were inadequately followed-up, particularly the action "call the case manager". Inhaled medication adherence was high, but inhalations were poorly performed. Future research is needed to identify adherence barriers, further tailor the intervention to the individual patient and analyse the intervention effects on health outcomes.

We evaluated whether a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment test (CAT) with adjusted weights for the CAT items could better predict future respiratory-related hospitalizations than the original CAT. Two focus groups (respiratory nurses and physicians) generated two adjusted CAT algorithms. Two multivariate logistic regression models for infrequent (≤1/year) versus frequent (>1/year) future respiratory-related hospitalizations were defined: one with the adjusted CAT score that correlated best with future hospitalizations and one with the original CAT score. Patient characteristics related to future hospitalizations (p ≤ 0.2) were also entered. Eighty-two COPD patients were included. The CAT algorithm derived from the nurse focus group was a borderline significant predictor of hospitalization risk (odds ratio (OR): 1.07; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00–1.14; p = 0.050) in a model that also included hospitalization frequency in the previous year (OR: 3.98; 95% CI: 1.30–12.16; p = 0.016) and anticholinergic risk score (OR: 3.08; 95% CI: 0.87–10.89; p = 0.081). Presence of ischemic heart disease and/or heart failure appeared ‘protective’ (OR: 0.17; 95% CI: 0.05–0.62; p = 0.007). The original CAT score was not significantly associated with hospitalization risk. In conclusion, as a predictor of respiratory-related hospitalizations, an adjusted CAT score was marginally significant (although the original CAT score was not). ‘Previous respiratory-related hospitalizations’ was the strongest factor in this equation.