Automating Cancer Genetic Counseling with an Adaptive Pedagogical Agent

Embodied Conversational Agents for Chronic Diseases: Scoping Review

“…One study was conducted in 3 countries (Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) [ 42 ], and another study did not provide any information [ 35 ]. Among the studies that reported a study design, mixed method studies (8/36, 22%) [ 10 , 28 , 39 - 44 ] and pilot studies (8/36, 22%) [ 31 , 34 , 38 , 45 - 48 ] were the most commonly used study designs, followed by qualitative studies (6/36, 17%) [ 11 , 26 , 35 , 49 - 51 ], randomized controlled trials (5/36, 14%) [ 32 , 37 , 52 - 54 ], ongoing trials (4/36, 11%) [ 33 , 55 - 57 ], quasiexperimental designs (2/36, 6%) [ 30 ], longitudinal study (1/36, 3%) [ 29 ], single-group nonrandomized trial (1/36, 3%) [ 36 ], and pre- and posttest design (1/36, 3%) [ 27 ]. Of the 36 studies, 30 (83%) were conducted on patients (15/36, 42%) [ 10 , 26 , 32 , 34 - 37 , 40 , 42 , 47 , 52 , 54 - 57 ] or healthy individuals (15/36, 42%) [ 11 , 27 , 29 - 31 , 44 - 46 , 48 - 51 , 53 ] and 6 (17%) [ 28 , 33 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 43 ] on stakeholders such as homecare providers or experts.…”

“…Of the 36 studies, 30 (83%) were conducted on patients (15/36, 42%) [ 10 , 26 , 32 , 34 - 37 , 40 , 42 , 47 , 52 , 54 - 57 ] or healthy individuals (15/36, 42%) [ 11 , 27 , 29 - 31 , 44 - 46 , 48 - 51 , 53 ] and 6 (17%) [ 28 , 33 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 43 ] on stakeholders such as homecare providers or experts. The mean age of the target population across studies was >40 years, except for 19% (7/36) of the studies [ 30 , 33 , 35 , 47 , 53 , 57 ].…”

“…The goals of the ECA-led interventions varied, with 31% (11/36) of the studies aiming to promote self-management [ 10 , 26 , 33 - 35 , 37 , 39 , 40 , 52 , 55 , 56 ], including activities such as daily walking, medication taking, healthy eating, monitoring symptoms, and interaction management. ECAs were also used for mental therapy (3/36, 8%) [ 47 , 54 , 57 ], genetic counseling (3/36, 8%) [ 30 , 53 ], assisted living (2/36, 6%) [ 41 , 42 ], diagnosis (1/36, 3%) [ 38 ], and education (1/36, 3%) [ 43 ]. Of the 36 studies, 2 (6%) [ 32 , 36 ] used ECAs to promote exercise.…”

“…Across 67% (24/36) of the studies, we found that ECAs were given 9 different names, including ALEX [ 31 , 45 , 46 , 48 , 51 ], Tanya [ 30 , 34 , 35 , 52 , 53 ], Danya [ 43 ], Anne [ 41 , 42 , 47 , 57 ], Sylvia [ 40 ], Laura [ 10 , 26 , 37 ], Vitoria [ 39 ], iHeartHelper [ 33 ], and Ellie [ 54 ]. Of 36 studies, 14 (39%) reported that ECAs assumed the role of virtual health coaches or counselors [ 10 , 26 , 30 , 32 , 34 - 37 , 43 , 47 , 52 , 53 , 57 ], whereas others described them as virtual health assistants (n=9, 25%) [ 11 , 31 , 33 , 39 , 44 , 48 - 50 ], virtual clinicians (n=3, 8%) [ 45 , 46 , 51 ], health providers (n=2, 6%) [ 27 , 29 ], a virtual human interviewer (n=1, 3%) [ 54 ], and a semiexpert (n=1, 3%) [ 40 ]. Of the 36 studies, only 1 (3%) [ 40 ] provided basic information about the ECA, such as age, place of residence, and education level.…”

The Impact of Virtual Humans on Psychosomatic Medicine

“…Moreover, they have been used to provide personalized interventions depending on patient data (46). Relational agent applications have spanned a wide variety of health care areas, including palliative care (48), preconception care (49), atrial fibrillation (50), cancer genetics (51), chronic illness (52), health behavior change (47), and psychiatry (53). Relational agents most commonly act as counselors but also as interviewers for health data or screens (50,51,54,55), health coaches (47), patient advocates and educators (49), and patient companions (56).…”