DigiBete, a Novel Chatbot to Support Transition to Adult Care of Young People/Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Outcomes From a Prospective, Multimethod, Nonrandomized Feasibility and Acceptability Study.

Q2 Medicine
JMIR Diabetes Pub Date : 2025-07-23 DOI:10.2196/74032
Veronica Swallow, Janet Horsman, Eliza Mazlan, Fiona Campbell, Reza Zaidi, Madeleine Julian, Jacob Branchflower, Jackie Martin-Kerry, Helen Monks, Astha Soni, Alison Rodriguez, Rob Julian, Paul Dimitri
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Transition to adult health care for young people and young adults (YP/YA) with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) starts around 11 years of age, but transition services may not meet their needs. A combination of self-management support digital health technologies exists, but no supportive chatbots with components to help YP/YA with T1DM were identified.

Objective: The aims of this study were to (1) evaluate the novel DigiBete Chatbot, the first user-led, developmentally appropriate, clinically approved transition chatbot for YP/YA with T1DM from four English diabetes services and (2) assess the feasibility of a future trial of the chatbot.

Methods: In a prospective, multimethod, nonrandomized feasibility and acceptability study in the UK National Health Service, YP/YA with T1DM from 4 hospital diabetes clinics (2 pretransition and 2 posttransition) were enrolled in a 6-week study to test the DigiBete Chatbot. During the study, YP/YA completed web-based, validated, and standardized questionnaires at baseline, 2 weeks, and 6 weeks to evaluate quality of life and anxiety and depression, along with chatbot usability and acceptability. Qualitative interviews involving YP/YA, parents, and health care professionals explored their views on the chatbot. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and framework analysis.

Results: Eighteen YP/YA were enrolled. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 4 parents, 24 health care professionals, and 12 YP/YA. Questionnaire outputs and the emergent qualitative themes (living with T1DM, using the chatbot, and refining the chatbot) indicated that the measures are feasible to use and the chatbot is acceptable and functional. In addition, responses indicated that, with refinements that incorporate the feasibility results, the chatbot could beneficially support YP/YA during transition. Users scored the chatbot as "good" to "excellent" for being engaging, informative, and aesthetically pleasing, and they stated that they would use it again. The results suggest that, with some adaptations based on user feedback, the chatbot was feasible and acceptable among the YP/YA who enjoyed using it. Our reactive conversational agent offers content (messaging and additional multimedia resources) that is relevant for the target population and clinically approved. The DigiBete Chatbot addresses the identified lack of personalized and supported self-management tools available for 11-24 year olds with T1DM and other chronic conditions.

Conclusions: These results warrant chatbot refinement and further investigation in a full trial to augment it prior to its wider clinical use. Our research design and methodology could also be transferred to using chatbots for other long-term conditions. On the premise of this feasibility study, the plan is to rebuild the DigiBete Chatbot to meet identified user needs and preferences and progress to a national cohort study to assess the usability, feasibility, and acceptability of a modified chatbot, with a view to proceeding to rollout for national and international use on the established DigiBete platform.

一项前瞻性、多方法、非随机的可行性和可接受性研究的结果:一种新型聊天机器人digbete,支持年轻人/年轻人1型糖尿病患者过渡到成人护理
背景:1型糖尿病(T1DM)青少年和青年会从11岁左右开始向成人医疗保健过渡,但过渡服务可能无法满足他们的需求。存在自我管理支持数字健康技术的组合,但没有确定具有帮助YP/YA患有T1DM的组件的支持性聊天机器人。目的:本研究的目的是(1)评估新型digbete聊天机器人,这是第一个由用户主导的、发展适当的、临床批准的用于治疗四家英国糖尿病服务公司的YP/YA伴T1DM的过渡聊天机器人;(2)评估未来试验的可行性。方法:在英国国家卫生服务的一项前瞻性、多方法、非随机的可行性和可接受性研究中,来自4家医院糖尿病诊所(2家变性前和2家变性后)的患有T1DM的YP/YA被纳入了一项为期6周的研究,以测试digbete聊天机器人。在研究期间,YP/YA在基线、2周和6周完成了基于网络、验证和标准化的问卷调查,以评估生活质量、焦虑和抑郁,以及聊天机器人的可用性和可接受性。定性访谈包括YP/YA、家长和医疗保健专业人员,探讨了他们对聊天机器人的看法。采用描述性统计和框架分析法对数据进行分析。结果:18名YP/YA入组。对4名家长、24名卫生保健专业人员和12名青少年进行了定性访谈。问卷输出和涌现的定性主题(与T1DM共存、使用聊天机器人和改进聊天机器人)表明,这些措施是可行的,聊天机器人是可接受的和功能性的。此外,响应表明,通过纳入可行性结果的改进,聊天机器人可以在过渡期间有利地支持YP/YA。用户对聊天机器人的评价从“好”到“优秀”,因为它具有吸引力、信息量大、美观,他们表示会再次使用它。结果表明,在用户反馈的基础上进行一些调整,聊天机器人在喜欢使用它的YP/YA中是可行和可接受的。我们的反应式会话代理提供与目标人群相关并经临床批准的内容(消息传递和额外的多媒体资源)。digibette聊天机器人解决了11-24岁T1DM和其他慢性疾病患者缺乏个性化和支持的自我管理工具的问题。结论:这些结果保证了聊天机器人的改进和进一步的研究,以在其更广泛的临床应用之前进行全面的试验。我们的研究设计和方法也可以转移到其他长期条件下使用聊天机器人。在这个可行性研究的前提下,计划是重建DigiBete聊天机器人,以满足确定的用户需求和偏好,并进展到一个国家队列研究,以评估修改后的聊天机器人的可用性、可行性和可接受性,以期在已建立的DigiBete平台上继续在国内和国际上推广使用。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
JMIR Diabetes
JMIR Diabetes Computer Science-Computer Science Applications
CiteScore
4.00
自引率
0.00%
发文量
35
审稿时长
16 weeks
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