A Systematic Review on Healthcare Artificial Intelligent Conversational Agents for Chronic Conditions

Sawad, AB; Narayan, B; Alnefaie, A; Maqbool, A; Mckie, I; Smith, J; Yuksel, B; Puthel, D; Prasad, M; Kocaballi, A

A Systematic Review on Healthcare Artificial Intelligent Conversational Agents for Chronic Conditions

Sawad, AB Narayan, B

Alnefaie, A Maqbool, A Mckie, I Smith, J Yuksel, B Puthel, D Prasad, M Kocaballi, A

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Publisher:: MDPI
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Sensors, 2022, 22, (7)
Issue Date:: 2022-03-29

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Sawad, AB
dc.contributor.author	Narayan, B https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8852-5589
dc.contributor.author	Alnefaie, A
dc.contributor.author	Maqbool, A
dc.contributor.author	Mckie, I
dc.contributor.author	Smith, J
dc.contributor.author	Yuksel, B
dc.contributor.author	Puthel, D
dc.contributor.author	Prasad, M
dc.contributor.author	Kocaballi, A
dc.date.accessioned	2022-03-29T11:40:40Z
dc.date.available	2022-03-24
dc.date.available	2022-03-29T11:40:40Z
dc.date.issued	2022-03-29
dc.identifier.citation	Sensors, 2022, 22, (7)
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/155670
dc.description.abstract	This paper reviews different types of conversational agents used in health care for chronic conditions, examining their underlying communication technology, evaluation measures, and AI methods. A systematic search was performed in February 2021 on PubMed Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science, and ACM Digital Library. Studies were included if they focused on consumers, caregivers, or healthcare professionals in the prevention, treatment, or rehabilitation of chronic diseases, involved conversational agents, and tested the system with human users. The search retrieved 1087 articles. Twenty-six studies met the inclusion criteria. Out of 26 conversational agents (CAs), 16 were chatbots, seven were embodied conversational agents (ECA), one was a conversational agent in a robot, and another was a relational agent. One agent was not specified. Based on this review, the overall acceptance of CAs by users for the self-management of their chronic conditions is promising. Users’ feedback shows helpfulness, satisfaction, and ease of use in more than half of included studies. Although many users in the studies appear to feel more comfortable with CAs, there is still a lack of reliable and comparable evidence to determine the efficacy of AI-enabled CAs for chronic health conditions due to the insufficient reporting of technical implementation details.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	MDPI
dc.relation.ispartof	Sensors
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.3390/s22072625
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	0301 Analytical Chemistry, 0502 Environmental Science and Management, 0602 Ecology, 0805 Distributed Computing, 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
dc.subject.classification	Analytical Chemistry
dc.title	A Systematic Review on Healthcare Artificial Intelligent Conversational Agents for Chronic Conditions
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	22
utslib.location.activity	Switzerland
utslib.for	0301 Analytical Chemistry
utslib.for	0502 Environmental Science and Management
utslib.for	0602 Ecology
utslib.for	0805 Distributed Computing
utslib.for	0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/FASS Faculty Administration
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2022-03-29T11:40:30Z
pubs.issue	7
pubs.publication-status	Published online
pubs.volume	22
utslib.citation.issue	7

Abstract:

This paper reviews different types of conversational agents used in health care for chronic conditions, examining their underlying communication technology, evaluation measures, and AI methods. A systematic search was performed in February 2021 on PubMed Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science, and ACM Digital Library. Studies were included if they focused on consumers, caregivers, or healthcare professionals in the prevention, treatment, or rehabilitation of chronic diseases, involved conversational agents, and tested the system with human users. The search retrieved 1087 articles. Twenty-six studies met the inclusion criteria. Out of 26 conversational agents (CAs), 16 were chatbots, seven were embodied conversational agents (ECA), one was a conversational agent in a robot, and another was a relational agent. One agent was not specified. Based on this review, the overall acceptance of CAs by users for the self-management of their chronic conditions is promising. Users’ feedback shows helpfulness, satisfaction, and ease of use in more than half of included studies. Although many users in the studies appear to feel more comfortable with CAs, there is still a lack of reliable and comparable evidence to determine the efficacy of AI-enabled CAs for chronic health conditions due to the insufficient reporting of technical implementation details.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/155670