Conversational agents for pharmaceutical use: insights from the eCCo database.

Abstract

Conversational agents are computer programmes designed to replicate bidirectional human conversation through spoken or written language, potentially supplemented with nonverbal features. The eCCo database is a searchable repository of primary studies on conversational agents in health and well-being. It catalogs 657 papers currently, published between 1991 and 2022; 51 address the use of medicines. Most of these papers focus on usability rather than rigorous effectiveness or implementation research, underscoring a need for more robust evaluation. The largest category of conversational agents for pharmaceutical use consists of non-embodied agents (n = 24), followed by virtual embodiment only (n = 19), most using virtual humans (n = 16). This database facilitates the comparison and appraisal of existing research in this field, while contributing to a more nuanced understanding of this technology through multidimensional attributes. We aim to enhance the database accuracy and expand its completeness beyond 2022 with the support of the global research community.