Centre for Research in Integrated Care, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, NB, Canada.
Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, NB, Canada.
J Med Internet Res. 2024 Sep 25;26:e49387. doi: 10.2196/49387.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of conversational agents for health promotion and service delivery. To date, health professionals' views on the use of this technology have received limited attention in the literature.
The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how health professionals view the use of conversational agents for health care.
Physicians, nurses, and regulated mental health professionals were recruited using various web-based methods. Participants were interviewed individually using the Zoom (Zoom Video Communications, Inc) videoconferencing platform. Interview questions focused on the potential benefits and risks of using conversational agents for health care, as well as the best way to integrate conversational agents into the health care system. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and uploaded to NVivo (version 12; QSR International, Inc) for thematic analysis.
A total of 24 health professionals participated in the study (19 women, 5 men; mean age 42.75, SD 10.71 years). Participants said that the use of conversational agents for health care could have certain benefits, such as greater access to care for patients or clients and workload support for health professionals. They also discussed potential drawbacks, such as an added burden on health professionals (eg, program familiarization) and the limited capabilities of these programs. Participants said that conversational agents could be used for routine or basic tasks, such as screening and assessment, providing information and education, and supporting individuals between appointments. They also said that health professionals should have some oversight in terms of the development and implementation of these programs.
The results of this study provide insight into health professionals' views on the use of conversational agents for health care, particularly in terms of the benefits and drawbacks of these programs and how they should be integrated into the health care system. These collective findings offer useful information and guidance to stakeholders who have an interest in the development and implementation of this technology.
近年来，人们越来越多地使用会话代理来促进健康和提供服务。迄今为止，文献中对健康专业人员对使用这种技术的看法关注有限。
本研究旨在更好地了解健康专业人员如何看待将会话代理用于医疗保健。
通过各种基于网络的方法招募医生、护士和受监管的心理健康专业人员。使用 Zoom（Zoom Video Communications，Inc.）视频会议平台对参与者进行单独访谈。访谈问题集中在使用会话代理进行医疗保健的潜在益处和风险，以及将会话代理整合到医疗保健系统中的最佳方式。访谈内容逐字记录并上传到 NVivo（版本 12；QSR International，Inc.）进行主题分析。
共有 24 名健康专业人员参加了这项研究（19 名女性，5 名男性；平均年龄 42.75 岁，标准差 10.71 岁）。参与者表示，使用会话代理进行医疗保健可能具有某些好处，例如为患者或客户提供更多的医疗服务机会和对健康专业人员的工作支持。他们还讨论了潜在的缺点，例如给健康专业人员增加了负担（例如，熟悉程序）和这些程序的功能有限。参与者表示，会话代理可以用于常规或基本任务，例如筛查和评估、提供信息和教育以及在预约之间支持个人。他们还表示，健康专业人员应该对这些程序的开发和实施进行一定的监督。
本研究的结果提供了健康专业人员对使用会话代理进行医疗保健的看法，特别是在这些程序的优缺点以及如何将其整合到医疗保健系统中的看法。这些综合发现为对该技术的开发和实施有兴趣的利益相关者提供了有用的信息和指导。
