Kataoka Yuki, Takemura Tomoyasu, Sasajima Munehiko, Katoh Naoki
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hyogo Prefectural Amagasaki General Medical Center, Amagasaki, Japan.
Department of Internal Medicine, Kyoto Min-Iren Chuo Hospital, Kyoto, Japan.
JMIR Cancer. 2021 Mar 10;7(1):e26911. doi: 10.2196/26911.
Chatbots are artificial intelligence-driven programs that interact with people. The applications of this technology include the collection and delivery of information, generation of and responding to inquiries, collection of end user feedback, and the delivery of personalized health and medical information to patients through cellphone- and web-based platforms. However, no chatbots have been developed for patients with lung cancer and their caregivers.
This study aimed to develop and evaluate the early feasibility of a chatbot designed to improve the knowledge of symptom management among patients with lung cancer in Japan and their caregivers.
We conducted a sequential mixed methods study that included a web-based anonymized questionnaire survey administered to physicians and paramedics from June to July 2019 (phase 1). Two physicians conducted a content analysis of the questionnaire to curate frequently asked questions (FAQs; phase 2). Based on these FAQs, we developed and integrated a chatbot into a social network service (phase 3). The physicians and paramedics involved in phase I then tested this chatbot (α test; phase 4). Thereafter, patients with lung cancer and their caregivers tested this chatbot (β test; phase 5).
We obtained 246 questions from 15 health care providers in phase 1. We curated 91 FAQs and their corresponding responses in phase 2. In total, 11 patients and 1 caregiver participated in the β test in phase 5. The participants were asked 60 questions, 8 (13%) of which did not match the appropriate categories. After the β test, 7 (64%) participants responded to the postexperimental questionnaire. The mean satisfaction score was 2.7 (SD 0.5) points out of 5.
Medical staff providing care to patients with lung cancer can use the categories specified in this chatbot to educate patients on how they can manage their symptoms. Further studies are required to improve chatbots in terms of interaction with patients.
聊天机器人是由人工智能驱动的与人交互的程序。这项技术的应用包括信息的收集与传递、生成并回复询问、收集终端用户反馈，以及通过手机和网络平台向患者提供个性化的健康和医疗信息。然而，尚未为肺癌患者及其护理人员开发聊天机器人。
本研究旨在开发并评估一款聊天机器人的早期可行性，该聊天机器人旨在提高日本肺癌患者及其护理人员对症状管理的认知。
我们开展了一项序贯混合方法研究，其中包括在2019年6月至7月对医生和护理人员进行的基于网络的匿名问卷调查（第1阶段）。两名医生对问卷进行了内容分析，以整理常见问题（常见问题解答；第2阶段）。基于这些常见问题解答，我们开发了一个聊天机器人并将其集成到一个社交网络服务中（第3阶段）。参与第1阶段的医生和护理人员随后对这个聊天机器人进行了测试（α测试；第4阶段）。此后，肺癌患者及其护理人员对这个聊天机器人进行了测试（β测试；第5阶段）。
在第1阶段，我们从15名医疗服务提供者那里获得了246个问题。在第2阶段，我们整理了91个常见问题解答及其相应的回复。在第5阶段，共有11名患者和1名护理人员参与了β测试。向参与者提出了60个问题，其中8个（13%）与适当类别不匹配。β测试后，7名（64%）参与者回复了实验后问卷。平均满意度得分为2.7（标准差0.5）分（满分5分）。
为肺癌患者提供护理的医务人员可以使用这个聊天机器人中指定的类别，来教育患者如何管理自己的症状。需要进一步研究以改善聊天机器人与患者的互动。
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