The Effectiveness of Conversational AI Service (Chatbot) Utilization on Vaccine Confidence

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The primary objective of this study is to develop and evaluate a conversational AI service (chatbot) on social media platforms to obtain accurate and up-to-date vaccine information, and assess the impact of chatbot usage on users' vaccine confidence and acceptance in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand.

Detailed Description
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The investigators will focus on vulnerable seniors and/or children from Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand who have refused or delayed COVID-19 vaccination. Participants will be recruited by an online panel to meet the target quota by age and sex. Participants will then be randomly assigned to the intervention group and the control group. For both intervention and control groups, evaluation questionnaires will be given out to the study participants asking questions about their demographics, including age, sex, educational level, employment status and household income levels. Participants will then answer questions regarding COVID-19 vaccine confidence, including the effectiveness and safety of vaccines, and the motivations of the policymakers who decided on the needed vaccines. Participants will be asked about COVID-19 vaccine acceptance including the intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines, make plans to receive COVID-19 vaccines, and receive at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines. The intervention group will then be asked to use the chatbot developed by the research team for up to two weeks. The chatbot is developed under the RE-AIM framework for formative, impact, and process evaluation of the intervention. The control group will have no exposure to the chatbot. The chatbot will be supported with data from 1) social listening analytics for monitoring local real-time discourses in the digital space on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and misinformation, and 2) formative, baseline, and endpoint evaluation, which will generate evidence for development and improvement/refinement.

Official Title
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The Effectiveness of Conversational AI Service (Chatbot) Utilization on Vaccine Confidence

Conditions
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Vaccination Hesitancy

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Conversational AI Service (Chatbot)


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Hong Kong adult residents (English or Chinese users) with (a) unvaccinated senior parents/grandparents aged 60 (including those who received first dose after the announcement of the COVID passport on 4th of January) or (b) unvaccinated children aged below 18. Thailand adult residents (Thai users) with (a) unvaccinated senior parents/grandparents aged 60 or above or (b) unvaccinated children aged below 18. Singapore adult residents (English or Chinese users) with unvaccinated children aged between 5 to 11 years old. Exclusion Criteria: People who do not meet the inclusion criteria.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| No Intervention: Control<br>Eligible adults with unvaccinated senior parents/grandparents or children. | |
| Experimental: Intervention<br>Eligible adults with unvaccinated senior parents/grandparents or children. | Other: Conversational AI Service (Chatbot)<br>* WhatsApp or Messenger Chatbot for COVID-19 vaccines<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Covid-19 vaccines confidence Index | Overall, I think COVID-19 vaccines are important for children/senior parents (or grandparents) Overall, I think COVID-19 vaccines are safe for children/parents (or grandparents) Overall, I think COVID-19 vaccines are effective for children/parents (or grandparents) The response is a 5-point Likert scale: (a) Strongly agree (b)Tend to agree (c) Do not know (d) Tend to disagree (e) Strongly disagree | 1 week | 
| Covid-19 vaccines acceptance | What is the vaccination status of your children/senior parents (or grandparents) as of now? Is vaccinated with at least the first dose of the vaccine Has made an appointment but has not been vaccinated with the first dose yet Has not made an appointment but will get the vaccine. Has no plan to get vaccinated anytime soon. Do you want your children/senior parents (or grandparents) vaccinated against COVID-19 if vaccination is indicated and available for them? Yes, definitely. Unsure, but leaning towards yes. Unsure, but leaning towards no. No, definitely not. | 1 week |