JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Providing ongoing support to the increasing number of caregivers as their needs change in the long-term course of dementia is a serious challenge to any healthcare system. Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) operating 24/7 may help to tackle this problem.

Objective:

This article describes the development of a generative AI chatbot, called PDC30 Chatbot, and an evaluation of its acceptability in a qualitative study.

Methods:

Divided into two phases, Study One focused on the development of the PDC30 Chatbot using the GPT-4o large language model, with a personality agent to constrain its behavior to providing advice on dementia caregiving based on the Positive Dementia Caregiving in 30 Days Guidebook. PDC30 Chatbot’s responses to 21 common questions were compared with those of another chatbot (called Chatbot-B) using a collection of authoritative sources (World Health Organization iSupport, By Us For Us Guides, and 185 webpages by Alzheimer’s Association, National Institute on Aging, and UK Alzheimer’s Society) as its knowledge base. In Study Two, 10 caregivers used PDC30 Chatbot for two weeks and provided ratings and comments on its acceptability.

Results:

Study One showed that the PDC30 Chatbot produced highly context-sensitive advice, which was comparable to, if not better than, those of Chatbot-B. In Study Two, caregivers found the PDC30 Chatbot highly user-friendly, and its responses quite helpful and easy to understand. They were rather satisfied with it and would strongly recommend it to other caregivers. During the 2-week trial period, the majority used the chatbot more than once per day.

Conclusions:

The PDC30 Chatbot provides quality responses to caregiver questions, which are well-received by caregivers. Conversational AI is a viable approach to improve the support to caregivers. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT06409455