Health-Related Applications of Socially Interactive Agents

Bickmore, Timothy

doi:10.1145/3563659.3563672

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…In particular, adding social touch in virtual reality appears timely and is a question of growing interest (see Gallace & Girondiny, 2022, for a review). The multisensory design of virtual environments would definitely benefit from providing mediated social touch (Héron et al, 2022), for instance through virtual characters who interact with human users (Bickmore, 2022). To this aim, research has focused until now on complex haptic devices to allow humans and virtual characters to touch each other during virtual interactions (Gallace & Girondiny, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paving the way for social touch at a distance: sonifying tactile interactions and their underlying emotions

Lagarde¹,

Pélachaud²,

Kirsch³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Touch involves more than a mere sensory stimulation on the skin, as it allows us to communicate different emotions and intentions. Notably, skin-to-skin tactile interactions create vibrations that are of similar nature to auditory ones, suggesting that tactile signals could be transposed into auditory signals. However, up to date, no studies have investigated whether it is possible to recognise tactile gestures or their underlying emotional content through the auditory channel. To explore this question, the vibratory signals from prototypical skin-to-skin touches were recorded with a violin microphone and amplified by means of basic sensory signal processing, creating what we refer to as ‘audio-touch stimuli’. In a first experiment, participants listened to the sounds of four social touches (i.e., stroking, rubbing, tapping, hitting), which they were able to recognise and categorise. In a second experiment, participants listened to the audio-touch sounds of six social touches conveying different socio-emotional intentions (i.e., anger, attention, fear, joy, love, sympathy) and were able to recognise and associate them with the intended emotional messages. Altogether, these results show for the first time that both the tactile gestures and the emotional contents of tactile interactions can be identified through their auditory counterparts. The line of research opened here sets up the grounds for future possibilities to allow socio-affective interactions at a distance, with both humans and virtual agents.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paving the way for social touch at a distance: sonifying tactile interactions and their underlying emotions

Lagarde¹,

Pélachaud²,

Kirsch³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Empathy, defined as the understanding of another person’s experience, is particularly vital as it is consistently linked to improved client outcomes in person-delivered interventions [ 24 ]. For this reason, the principles of motivational interviewing (MI) are frequently incorporated into the repertoire of digital agents [ 25 ]. In alcohol interventions, an empathic and likable digital counselor versus one low in empathy was rated as more supportive and understanding, and increased intention to reduce alcohol [ 26 ] and decreased alcohol use over a 3 month assessment period [ 27 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Digital Counselor-Delivered Intervention for Substance Use Among People With HIV: Development and Usability Study

Hutton,

Aggarwal,

Gillani

et al. 2023

JMIR Form Res

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Background Substance use disorders are prevalent and undertreated among people with HIV. Computer-delivered interventions (CDIs) show promise in expanding reach, delivering evidence-based care, and offering anonymity. Use in HIV clinic settings may overcome access barriers. Incorporating digital counselors may increase CDI engagement, and thereby improve health outcomes. Objective We aim to develop and pilot a digital counselor–delivered brief intervention for people with HIV who use drugs, called “C-Raven,” which is theory grounded and uses evidence-based practices for behavior change. Methods Intervention mapping was used to develop the CDI including a review of the behavior change research in substance use, HIV, and digital counselors. We conducted in-depth interviews applying the situated-information, motivation, and behavior skills model and culturally adapting the content for local use with people with HIV. With a user interaction designer, we created various digital counselors and CDI interfaces. Finally, a mixed methods approach using in-depth interviews and quantitative assessments was used to assess the usability, acceptability, and cultural relevance of the intervention content and the digital counselor. Results Participants found CDI easy to use, useful, relevant, and motivating. A consistent suggestion was to provide more information about the negative impacts of drug use and the interaction of drug use with HIV. Participants also reported that they learned new information about drug use and its health effects. The CDI was delivered by a “Raven,” digital counselor, programmed to interact in a motivational interviewing style. The Raven was perceived to be nonjudgmental, understanding, and emotionally responsive. The appearance and images in the intervention were perceived as relevant and acceptable. Participants noted that they could be more truthful with a digital counselor, however, it was not unanimously endorsed as a replacement for a human counselor. The C-Raven Satisfaction Scale showed that all participants rated their satisfaction at either a 4 (n=2) or a 5 (n=8) on a 5-point Likert scale and all endorsed using the C-Raven program again. Conclusions CDIs show promise in extending access to care and improving health outcomes but their development necessarily requires integration from multiple disciplines including behavioral medicine and computer science. We developed a cross-platform compatible CDI led by a digital counselor that interacts in a motivational interviewing style and (1) uses evidence-based behavioral change methods, (2) is culturally adapted to people with HIV who use drugs, (3) has an engaging and interactive user interface, and (4) presents personalized content based on participants’ ongoing responses to a series of menu-driven conversations. To advance the continued development of this and other CDIs, we recommend expanded testing, standardized measures to evaluate user experience, integration with clinician-delivered substance use treatment, and if effective, implementation into HIV clinical care.

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“…They have also been studied to support various health issues, such as overweight, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation [22], and for coaching people in a healthy lifestyle, such as physical activity, nutrition, mindfulness, preconception care, stress, blood glucose monitoring, and sun protection [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use and development of ECAs for health support have significantly increased because of advancements in personal devices (laptops, smartphones, or tablets) and computer techniques (3D game development, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, machine learning, and artificial intelligence) [22,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embodied Conversational Agents Providing Motivational Interviewing to Improve Health-Related Behaviors: Scoping Review

Mercado,

Espinosa-Curiel,

Martínez-Miranda

2023

J Med Internet Res

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Background Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are advanced human-like interfaces that engage users in natural face-to-face conversations and interactions. These traits position ECAs as innovative tools for delivering interventions for promoting health-related behavior adoption. This includes motivational interviewing (MI), a therapeutic approach that combines brief interventions with motivational techniques to encourage the adoption of healthier behaviors. Objective This study aims to identify the health issues addressed by ECAs delivering MI interventions, explore the key characteristics of these ECAs (eg, appearance, dialogue mechanism, emotional model), analyze the implementation of MI principles and techniques within ECAs, and examine the evaluation methods and primary outcomes of studies that use ECAs providing MI interventions. Methods We conducted a scoping review following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) methodology. Our systematic search covered the PubMed, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital, and PsycINFO databases for papers published between January 2008 and December 2022. We included papers describing ECAs developed for delivering MI interventions targeting health-related behaviors and excluded articles that did not describe ECAs with human appearances and without the necessary evaluation or MI explanation. In a multistage process, 3 independent reviewers performed screening and data extraction, and the collected data were synthesized using a narrative approach. Results The initial search identified 404 articles, of which 3.5% (n=14) were included in the review. ECAs primarily focused on reducing alcohol use (n=5, 36%), took on female representations (n=9, 64%), and gave limited consideration to user ethnicity (n=9, 64%). Most of them used rules-driven dialogue mechanisms (n=13, 93%), include emotional behavior to convey empathy (n=8, 57%) but without an automatic recognition of user emotions (n=12, 86%). Regarding MI implementation, of 14 studies, 3 (21%) covered all MI principles, 4 (29%) included all processes, and none covered all techniques. Most studies (8/14, 57%) conducted acceptability, usability, and user experience assessments, whereas a smaller proportion (4/14, 29%) used randomized controlled trials to evaluate behavior changes. Overall, the studies reported positive results regarding acceptability, usability, and user experience and showed promising outcomes in changes in attitudes, beliefs, motivation, and behavior. Conclusions This study revealed significant advancements in the use of ECAs for delivering MI interventions aimed at promoting healthier behaviors over the past 15 years. However, this review emphasizes the need for a more in-depth exploration of ECA characteristics. In addition, there is a need for the enhanced integration of MI principles, processes, and techniques into ECAs. Although acceptability and usability have received considerable attention, there is a compelling argument for placing a stronger emphasis on assessing changes in attitudes, beliefs, motivation, and behavior. Consequently, inclusion of more randomized controlled trials is essential for comprehensive intervention evaluations.

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Health-Related Applications of Socially Interactive Agents

Cited by 15 publications

References 86 publications

Paving the way for social touch at a distance: sonifying tactile interactions and their underlying emotions

Paving the way for social touch at a distance: sonifying tactile interactions and their underlying emotions

A Digital Counselor-Delivered Intervention for Substance Use Among People With HIV: Development and Usability Study

Embodied Conversational Agents Providing Motivational Interviewing to Improve Health-Related Behaviors: Scoping Review

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