Preliminary Evaluation of a mHealth Coaching Conversational Artificial Intelligence for the Self-Care Management of People with Sickle-Cell Disease

Abstract

Adherence to the complex set of recommended self-care practices among people with Sickle-Cell Disease (SCD) positively impacts health outcomes. However, few patients possess the required skills (i.e. disease-specific knowledge, adequate levels of self-efficacy). Consequently, adherence rates remain low and only 1% of patients are empowered enough to master the self-care practices. Health coaching and therapeutic patient education have emerged as new approaches to enhance patients’ self-management and support health behavior changes. This preliminary feasibility study examined patients’ perceived usefulness of the information provided by a chatbot we developed following patient-important requirements collected during our preliminary studies. Participants tested the chatbot and completed a post-test survey. A total of 19 patients were enrolled and 2 withdrew. 15 respondents (15/17, 88%) gave a score of at least 3/4 to the question “The chatbot contains all the information I need”. Results suggest that mHealth coaching apps could be used to promote the knowledge acquisition of recommended health behaviors related to the prevention of SCD main symptoms.