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Virtual Humans in Health-Related Interventions: A Meta-Analysis

Published: 02 May 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Virtual humans are computer-generated characters designed to simulate key properties of human face-to-face conversation---verbal and nonverbal. Their human-like physical appearance and nonverbal behavior set them apart from chatbot-type embodied conversational agents, and has recently received significant interest as a potential tool for health-related interventions. As healthcare providers deliberate whether to adopt this new technology, it is crucial to examine the empirical evidence about their effectiveness. We systematically evaluated evidence from controlled studies of interventions using virtual humans on their effectiveness in health-related outcomes. Nineteen studies were included from a total of 3354 unique records. Although study objectives varied greatly, most targeted psychological conditions, such as mood, anxiety, and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Virtual humans demonstrated effectiveness in improving health-related outcomes, more strongly when targeting clinical conditions, such as ASD or pain management, than general wellness, such as weight loss. We discuss the emerging differences when designing for clinical interventions versus wellness.

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cover image ACM Conferences
CHI EA '19: Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
May 2019
3673 pages
ISBN:9781450359719
DOI:10.1145/3290607
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Publication History

Published: 02 May 2019

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Author Tags

  1. avatars
  2. digital interlocutors
  3. healthcare
  4. meta-analysis
  5. virtual characters
  6. virtual humans

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  • (2024)Rethinking the uncanny valley as a moderated linear functionComputers in Human Behavior10.1016/j.chb.2024.108254157:COnline publication date: 17-Jul-2024
  • (2024)Virtual human pose estimation in a fire education system for children with autism spectrum disordersMultimedia Systems10.1007/s00530-024-01274-330:2Online publication date: 19-Mar-2024
  • (2023)Conversational Agent Interventions for Mental Health Problems: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled TrialsJournal of Medical Internet Research10.2196/4386225(e43862)Online publication date: 28-Apr-2023
  • (2023)Toward a Scoping Review of Social Intelligence in Virtual Humans2023 IEEE 17th International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG)10.1109/FG57933.2023.10042532(1-6)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2023
  • (2023)Computer-Assisted Avatar-Based Treatment for Dysfunctional Beliefs and Eating-Disorder Symptomatology: A Randomized Control Pilot StudyInternational Journal of Cognitive Therapy10.1007/s41811-023-00186-w17:2(251-278)Online publication date: 29-Sep-2023
  • (2022)Mental Health Chatbot for Young Adults With Depressive Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Single-Blind, Three-Arm Randomized Controlled TrialJournal of Medical Internet Research10.2196/4071924:11(e40719)Online publication date: 21-Nov-2022
  • (2022)Digital Behavior Change Interventions for the Prevention and Management of Type 2 Diabetes: Systematic Market AnalysisJournal of Medical Internet Research10.2196/3334824:1(e33348)Online publication date: 7-Jan-2022
  • (2022)Scale-up of Digital Innovations in Health Care: Expert Commentary on Enablers and BarriersJournal of Medical Internet Research10.2196/2458224:3(e24582)Online publication date: 11-Mar-2022
  • (2022)Chatbots to Support Young Adults’ Mental Health: An Exploratory Study of AcceptabilityACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems10.1145/348587412:2(1-39)Online publication date: 20-Jul-2022
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