Developing and researching a chatbot that coaches and supports people living with HIV in Nigeria

The project. 

Main idea: The proposed project sets out to design, test, improve, and comprehensively evaluate an intelligent chatbot which acts as a personal health coach. The bot will function similarly to a human coach. It will support young Nigerian adults living with HIV by (1) reminding them of medication and clinical appointments, (2) providing information and responding to questions about HIV, and (3) offering socio-emotional support and coaching based on cognitive behavioural principles. For the planned trial, the chatbot will be integrated in a secure messaging app, but the technology will be extendable to other mobile media and web-based applications.

Research: The evaluation will involve a qualitative study and a two-arm (1:1), open label, randomised controlled superiority trial (RCT). The trial will examine the bot’s use, usability, and effects in terms of mental health and well-being, cognitive variables (knowledge, treatment self-efficacy), physiological health (viral load), and gender aspects, by comparing the use of an ‘intelligent’, hybrid-adaptive chatbot with a control condition that receives the standard of care (SoC). Repeated qualitative interviews will be used to explore the multifaceted experiences of HIV clients in using the chatbot in their daily lives, as well as gender differences. 

Tea