How Far Can Conversational Agents Contribute to IBD Patient Health Care-A Review of the Literature

Modern societies are facing health and healthcare challenges as never seen before. The digital world in which we are living today considers digital health interventions such as internet-delivered therapy (e-Therapy) or mobile apps as an integrated part of healthcare systems. Digital transformation in health care requires the active involvement of patients as the central part of healthcare interventions. In the case of chronic health conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), it is believed that the adoption of new digital tools helps to maintain and extend the health and care of patients, optimizing the course of the treatment of the disease. The study goal was to undertake a literature review associating the use of chatbot technology with IBD patients' health care. This study intends to support digital product developments, mainly chatbot for IBD or other chronic diseases. The work was carried out through two literature review phases. The first one was based on a systematic approach and the second was a scoping review focused only on Frontiers Journals. This review followed a planned protocol for search and selection strategy that was created by a research team discussion. Chatbot technology for chronic disease self-management can have high acceptance and usability levels. The more interaction with a chatbot, the more patients are able to increase their self-care practice, but there is a challenge. The chatbot ontology to personalize the communication still needed to have strong guidelines helping other researchers to define which Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) should be used in the chatbots to improve the user satisfaction, engagement, and dialog quality. The literature review showed us both evidence and success of these tools in other health disorders. Some of them revealed a huge potential for conversational agents as a part of digital health interventions.

Automated summary

Digital health interventions, such as chatbot technology, have become integral parts of healthcare systems in modern societies. The use of chatbots in chronic disease management, like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), shows potential in improving patient self-care practices. However, there is a need for strong guidelines on personalizing communication with chatbots to enhance user satisfaction and dialogue quality.