JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Conversational agents have the ability to reach people through multiple mediums; whether in an online space, on a mobile phone, or even through hardware devices like Alexa and Google Home. Conversational agents provide an engaging method of interaction while making information easier to access. Their emergence into areas related to public health and health education is perhaps then unsurprising. While building conversational agents is getting more simplified as time goes on, there is still required time and effort. There is also a lack of clarity and consistent terminology about what constitutes a conversational agent, how they are developed, and the kinds of resources that are needed to develop and sustain them. This lack of clarity makes a daunting task for those seeking to build conversational agents for health education initiatives. This scoping review seeks to categorize conversational agents in health education in alignment with current classifications and terminology emerging from the marketplace. We will clearly define the variety levels of conversational agents, categorize currently existing agents within these levels and describe the development models, tools and resources being used to build conversational agents for healthcare education purposes.

Objective:

This scoping review aims to identify literature that reports on the design and implementation of conversational agents to promote and educate the public on matters related to health.

Methods:

This scoping review will be conducted by employing the Arksey and O’Malley framework. We will also be adhering to the enhancements and updates proposed by Levac et al. and Peters et al. The PRISMA extension for scoping reviews will guide the reporting of this scoping review. A systematic search for published and grey literature will be undertaken from the following databases (1) PubMed, (2) PsychINFO, (2) Embase, (4) Web of Science, (5) SCOPUS, (6) CINAHL, (7) ERIC, (8) MEDLINE, (9) Google Scholar. Data charting will be done using a structured format.

Results:

Initial searches of the databases retrieved 1,480 results. The results will be presented in the final scoping review in both a narrative and illustrative manner.

Conclusions:

This scoping review will report on conversational agents being used in health education today, including a categorization of the level of the agent and a reporting on the kinds of tools, resources, and design and development methods used.