Feasibility and Acceptability of an LLM-based Chatbot for Family Caregivers: Evaluation Study
University of Michigan
Summary
This study evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of using the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot mobile application (an LLM-based Chatbot) to support the well-being of informal care partners of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), dementia, or Huntington disease (HD). Over an 8-week intervention period, up to 60 care partners will engage with the application (app), spending four weeks focusing on physical health and four weeks focusing on mental health. Participants will complete surveys at the midpoint and end of the intervention period. Participants will also complete a semi-structured interview to discuss participants experience using an LLM-based Chatbot. The study team hypothesizes that care partners will find the chatbot acceptable and feasible to use in daily life, and that there will be low attrition and high completion rates of the study.
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria (care partner) * Age 18 years or older * Able to independently provide informed consent * Able to read, speak, and understand English * Have an Apple (iOS) smartphone, tablet, or laptop, have access to the internet and text messages, and be willing to use these resources for the study, including downloading and using the AI chatbot app (Earkick) * Be caring for and adult with a medically documented diagnosis of TBI, dementia or Huntington disease (HD) * Provide emotional, physical, and/or financial support/assistance to the individual with the TBI, dementia, or HD, indicati…
Interventions
- OtherLLM-based Chatbot
Participants will download the app with the study team's help and set it up. The participants will select topics of interest to focus on during the 8-week use of the LLM-based Chatbot. Participants will choose one mental health related topic to focus on from weeks 1-4 and one physical health related topic to focus on from weeks 5-8. During these 4 week cycles the participants will be guided to engage with the app's "Chat" feature, which offers conversational support through interactions with the chatbot. Additionally, participants will complete surveys at baseline, the midpoint, and end of the 8-week intervention period. Participants will also complete a semi-structured interview to discuss their experience using the LLM-based Chatbot.
Location
- University of MichiganAnn Arbor, Michigan