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| Name | Class |
|---|---|
| Tufts Medical Center | OTHER |
| Boston University | OTHER |
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The investigators will evaluate a computer-animated character that explains medical illustrations to people, comparing the character to having people understand the illustrations on their own, and also comparing the computer character on a computer display to one in immersive virtual reality. The investigators will determine which method leads to the best understanding and lowest anxiety.
The investigators are developing a new approach to explaining patient education documents and illustrations to patients with varying levels of health literacy, involving the use of Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs). The investigators will evaluate our ECA-augmented Document Explanation tool to determine whether it improves patient learning relative to traditional static patient education documents. The investigators will conduct a 3-arm randomized between-subjects experiment, in which participants read a patient education document with embedded medical illustration, either unaided (CONTROL), with the assistance of an ECA rendered in 2D on a standard computer monitor (ECA-2D), or with the assistance of an ECA in immersive Virtual Reality (ECA-3D).
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| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECA-2D | Experimental | Participants read a patient education document with the assistance of an embodied conversational agent rendered in 2D on a computer monitor. |
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| ECA-3D | Experimental | Participants read a patient education document with the assistance of an embodied conversational agent in virtual reality. |
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| CONTROL | No Intervention | Participants read a patient education document without assistance. |
| Name | Type | Description | Arm Group Labels | Other Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA) | Other | A computer-animated character that can explain a medical illustration to laypersons. |
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| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | A multiple-item knowledge test designed to test comprehension of the patient education document | Baseline and 30 minutes |
| State Anxiety scale from State-Trait Anxiety Inventory | Self-report state anxiety scale from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. 20 items, 4-point Likert scale. A higher score indicates more severe anxiety with a potential range from 20 to 80. | 30 minutes |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Satisfaction with illustration | Likert items to assess satisfaction with the document and illustration | 30 minutes |
| Reading Effort | Likert items to assess perceived effort in reading a document and illustration |
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Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
* None
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| Name | Role | Phone | Extension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timothy Bickmore, PhD | Contact | 6173735477 | t.bickmore@northeastern.edu |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Timothy Bickmore, PhD | Northeastern University | Principal Investigator |
| Facility | Status | City | State | ZIP | Country | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tufts Medical Center | Not yet recruiting | Boston | Massachusetts | 02111 | United States |
Quantitative measures of comprehension and anxiety will be collected from participants who either have patient education documents explained to them by embodied conversational agents or read the documents themselves. We will create de-identified data sets of all quantitative human subjects data that will be preserved and shared. The purpose for creating this is to allow other investigators access to the data to both validate our findings and to further advance inquiry in the field.
Prior to end of the study.
Sharing of de-identified human subjects data will be consistent with HIPAA guidelines and the Final NIH Statement on Sharing Research Data. We do not anticipate any limitations on sharing.
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3-treatment between-subjects randomized experiment
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| 30 minutes |
| Acceptability | Likert items to assess acceptability and appropriateness of the illustration | 30 minutes |
| Northeastern University | Recruiting | Boston | Massachusetts | 02115 | United States |
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