Engaging women with an embodied conversational agent to deliver mindfulness and lifestyle recommendations: A feasibility randomized control trial

Abstract

Objective This randomized controlled trial evaluates the feasibility of using an Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA) to teach lifestyle modifications to urban women. Methods Women were randomized to either 1) an ECA (content included: mindfulness, stress management, physical activity, and healthy eating) or 2) patient education sheets mirroring same content plus a meditation CD/MP3 once a day for one month. General outcome measures included: number of stress management techniques used, physical activity levels, and eating patterns. Results Sixty-one women ages 18 to 50 were enrolled. On average, 51% identified as white, 26% as black, 23% as other races; and 20% as Hispanic. The major stress management techniques reported at baseline were: exercise (69%), listening to music (70%), and social support (66%). After one month, women randomized to the ECA significantly decreased alcohol consumption to reduce stress (p = 0.03) and increased daily fruit consumption by an average of 2 servings compared to the control (p = 0.04). Conclusion It is feasible to use an ECA to promote health behaviors on stress management and healthy eating among diverse urban women. Practice implications Compared to patient information sheets, ECAs provide promise as a way to teach healthy lifestyle behaviors to diverse urban women.

Submitting surveys via a conversational interface: An evaluation of user acceptance and approach effectiveness

“…Those agents are also employed for diverse objectives. Without claiming to be exhaustive, some examples are as follows: Angara et al (2017) present a smart kitchen assistant built on top of IBM Watson for recipe recommendation; Gardiner et al (2017) introduce a conversational agent for awareness creation and behavioural change; Panasiuk et al (2018) On the other hand, building on their user experience expertise, Badiu (2018) claims that today's chatbots are far from being "intelligent", because they guide users through simple linear flows, and their user research shows that users have a hard time whenever they try to deviate from such flows. The authors discusses several characteristics required to improve user experience: the importance of pre-defined buttons and free-text user input, the possibility to follow non-linear flows, the importance of language and tone, the respect of user privacy.…”

Computer-Controlled Virtual Humans in Patient-Facing Systems: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The VH interface in Figure 2 was mostly delivered via smartphones or personal computers. By tailoring the knowledge base, VH were designed for a range of domains, from managing depression [ 77 ], through end-of-life planning [ 80 ], stress management [ 75 ], and educating about breastfeeding [ 89 ], to preconception care [ 97 ].…”

“…Of the 53 articles, 23 explicitly described their VH design process [ 55 , 58 , 59 , 68 , 71 , 73 , 75 , 78 , 80 , 82 - 87 , 89 - 93 , 95 , 97 , 104 ]. The most common design approaches were collaboration with domain experts, qualitative observation of similar human-human interactions, and adoption of public health and governmental guidelines.…”

Mobile Health Interventions: Exploring the Use of Common Relationship Factors

“…In a related study, Gardiner and colleagues [25] assigned 61 women to (1) a condition in which they interacted with a computerized relational agent who provided information on stress management, mindfulness, healthy eating, and physical activity or (2) a control condition in which they met for 60 min with a technician who reviewed education sheets about stress management, mindfulness, healthy eating, and physical activity and were given a CD containing meditation and mindfulness exercises. Results showed that, compared with the control group, women who interacted with the computerized relational agent increased their fruit consumption and decreased their use of alcohol to cope with stress.…”