Community-Based Cultural Tailoring of Virtual Agents

O’Leary, Teresa K.; Stowell, Elizabeth; Kimani, Everlyne; Parmar, Dhaval; Ólafsson, Stefán; Hoffman, Jessica A.; Parker, Andrea G.; Bickmore, Timothy

doi:10.1145/3383652.3423875

Cited by 28 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…However, previous studies have suggested that a co-design process is required [63,64], and consideration of how user characteristics (eg, gender and ethnicity) and use context impact the perception of agent behaviors [43]. Moreover, specific agent features such as tailoring conversational agent characteristics to match user culture and personality [65,66], personalizing content [67], and expressing empathy [68] may boost rapport and engagement.…”

Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Virtual Human, Teletherapy, and an e-Manual in Delivering a Stress Management Intervention to Distressed Adult Women: Pilot Study

Loveys¹,

Antoni²,

Donkin³

et al. 2023

JMIR Form Res

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Background Virtual humans (VHs), teletherapy, and self-guided e-manuals may increase the accessibility of psychological interventions. However, there is limited research on how these technologies compare in terms of their feasibility and acceptability in delivering stress management interventions. Objective We conducted a preliminary comparison of the feasibility and acceptability of a VH, teletherapy, and an e-manual at delivering 1 module of cognitive behavioral stress management (CBSM) to evaluate the feasibility of the trial methodology in preparation for a future randomized controlled trial (RCT). Methods A pilot RCT was conducted with a parallel, mixed design. A community sample of distressed adult women were randomly allocated to receive 1 session of CBSM involving training in cognitive and behavioral techniques by a VH, teletherapy, or an e-manual plus homework over 2 weeks. Data were collected on the feasibility of the intervention technologies (technical support and homework access), trial methods (recruitment methods, questionnaire completion, and methodological difficulty observations), intervention acceptability (intervention completion, self-report ratings, therapist rapport, and trust), and acceptability of the trial methods (self-report ratings and observations). Qualitative data in the form of written responses to open-ended questions were collected to enrich and clarify the findings on intervention acceptability. Results Overall, 38 participants’ data were analyzed. A VH (n=12), teletherapy (n=12), and an e-manual (n=14) were found to be feasible and acceptable for delivering 1 session of CBSM to distressed adult women based on the overall quantitative and qualitative findings. Technical difficulties were minimal and did not affect intervention completion, and no significant differences were found between the conditions (P=.31). The methodology was feasible, although improvements were identified for a future trial. All conditions achieved good satisfaction and perceived engagement ratings, and no significant group differences were found (P>.40). Participants had similar willingness to recommend each technology (P=.64). There was a nonsignificant trend toward participants feeling more open to using the VH and e-manual from home than teletherapy (P=.10). Rapport (P<.001) and trust (P=.048) were greater with the human teletherapist than with the VH. The qualitative findings enriched the quantitative results by revealing the unique strengths and limitations of each technology that may have influenced acceptability. Conclusions A VH, teletherapy, and a self-guided e-manual were found to be feasible and acceptable methods of delivering 1 session of a stress management intervention to a community sample of adult women. The technologies were found to have unique strengths and limitations that may affect which works best for whom and in what circumstances. Future research should test additional CBSM modules for delivery by these technologies and conduct a larger RCT to compare their feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness when delivering a longer home-based stress management program. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620000859987; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=380114&isReview=true

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Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Virtual Human, Teletherapy, and an e-Manual in Delivering a Stress Management Intervention to Distressed Adult Women: Pilot Study

Loveys¹,

Antoni²,

Donkin³

et al. 2023

JMIR Form Res

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“…Familiar clothing marker is explored to provoke a sense of familiarity with the conversational agent (Aljaroodi et al, 2020; O'Leary et al, 2020; Yadav et al, 2019; Murali et al, 2020; Lugrin et al, 2018. During a study, participants even considered that a certain dress was not considered appropriate (O'Leary et al, 2020). Similarly, in some contexts revealing clothes of avatars may be perceived as inappropriate (Aljaroodi et al, 2020).…”

Section: (23) Cultural Markersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conversational agents: a survey on culturally informed design practices

Monteiro

Salgado²

2023

JIS

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The development and use of conversational agents grow every day. However, those systems still need to meet users' expectations. As a result, new design practices for conversational agents are emerging. One facet is the culturally informed design of those systems. Tailoring conversational agents culturally can increase engagement, trustworthiness, and acceptance. While an emerging trend, literature still needs to discuss research and application of design practices related to culture and conversational agents. The present study investigates 5398 articles involving conversational agents and culture over the last seven years. In this context, we selected 23 articles based on their approaches and objectives related to our main subject. The findings indicate that most studies in the field are mainly focused on the feasibility of cultural markers tailored to those systems. The main contribution is the identification of the main challenges, contexts and design practices in the field. These results contributed to discussions regarding conversational agents and highlighted some research gaps for future study.

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“…Dickinson et al [28], for example, relied heavily on the network of street outreach workers managed by a partner organization to develop infrastructure for those workers to connect and collaborate. Some projects held research activities at common times and places of assembly for the community: e.g., regular meetings at a community center, alongside church services, or integrated with ceremonies [31,96,117,135,137]. In a few cases, researchers reported on significant efforts to reorient the traditional paradigm of HCI research and deconstruct design processes to give primacy to community knowledge practice [80,106,130].…”

Section: Enabling Participatory Models Formentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A minority of projects identified only outputs of the project for researchers (n=7, 15%). These projects often involved the development of design principles for a technological artifact or system immediately relevant for researchers, but not for the community [53,96,131].…”

Section: 23mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review and Thematic Analysis of Community-Collaborative Approaches to Computing Research

Cooper

Horne

Hayes

et al. 2022

CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

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HCI researchers have been gradually shifting attention from individual users to communities when engaging in research, design, and system development. However, our field has yet to establish a cohesive, systematic understanding of the challenges, benefits, and commitments of community-collaborative approaches to research. We conducted a systematic review and thematic analysis of 47 computing research papers discussing participatory research with communities for the development of technological artifacts and systems, published over the last two decades. From this review, we identified seven themes associated with the evolution of a project: from establishing community partnerships to sustaining results. Our findings suggest that several tensions characterize these projects, many of which relate to the power and position of researchers, and the computing research environment, relative to community partners. We discuss the implications of our findings and offer methodological proposals to guide HCI, and computing research more broadly, towards practices that center communities.

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Community-Based Cultural Tailoring of Virtual Agents

Cited by 28 publications

References 20 publications

Comparing the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Virtual Human, Teletherapy, and an e-Manual in Delivering a Stress Management Intervention to Distressed Adult Women: Pilot Study

Comparing the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Virtual Human, Teletherapy, and an e-Manual in Delivering a Stress Management Intervention to Distressed Adult Women: Pilot Study

Conversational agents: a survey on culturally informed design practices

A Systematic Review and Thematic Analysis of Community-Collaborative Approaches to Computing Research

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