How to write health dialog for a talking computer

Abstract

Automated dialogue systems delivered over the telephone offer a promising approach to delivering health-related interventions to populations of individuals at low-cost. Over the past two decades, an automated telephone system called Telephone-Linked Care or TLC has been successfully designed and evaluated by the authors and their colleagues. This work has resulted in over twenty systems for various health-related conditions and lifestyle behaviors. This paper describes our approach to developing and writing dialogue for these automated telephone systems, including determining the program objectives, defining the target population, and selecting a theory of behavior change to guide the intervention. Both macro and micro issues are considered in constructing dialogue systems that are engaging for the target population, easy to use, and effective at promoting positive health behaviors and outcomes.

Health Literacy, Health Inequality and a Just Healthcare System

“…We have successfully piloted a video to help patients with limited health literacy better envision and understand hypothetical health states such as dementia (Volandes et al 2007). Other health information technologies, such as automated phone systems (Friedman et al 1996;Migneault et al 2006;Rubin et al 2006), and automated computer interfaces such as animated embodied-conversational agents and "talking touch-screens" (Bickmore et al 2005;Bickmore and Giorgino 2006;Hahn et al 2004), are currently being refined and tested in intervention studies for patients with limited health literacy.…”

Review of spoken dialogue systems

“…During the last two decades, SDSs have been increasingly used in Ambient Assisted Living providing services such as interviews (Ghanem et al, 2005;, counseling (Hubal & Day, 2006), chronic symptoms monitoring (Black, McTear, Black, Harper, & Lemon, 2005;Migneault, Farzanfar, Wright, & Friedman, 2006), medication prescription assistance and adherence (Bickmore, Puskar, Schlenk, Pfeifer, & Sereika, 2010), changing dietary behaviour (Delichatsios et al, 2001), promoting physical activity (Farzanfar, Frishkopf, Migneault, & Friedman, 2005), helping cigarette smokers quit (Ramelson, Friedman, & Ockene, 1999), speech therapy (Saz et al, 2009), and prognosis and diagnosis using different techniques (Maglogiannis, Zafiropoulos, & Anagnostopoulos, 2009). …”

A Telerehabilitation Intervention for Persons with Spinal Cord Dysfunction

“…21 TLC, which functions as an at-home monitor, educator, and counselor for reinforcing or changing health-related behaviors, has been used to screen and monitor numerous diseases 22Y27 and has been applied to important health-related behaviors. 28 Clinical trials show TLC to improve medication adherence, 29 increase exercise among the general 13 and elderly populations, 30 decrease the degree of dyspnea for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 31 and improve eating habits 32 and lower serum cholesterol levels through dietary changes.…”