A Sociolinguistic-enabled Web Application to Develop Precision Health Intervention for African Americans

Summary

This pilot study will explore the preliminary efficacy of a colorectal cancer (CRC) screening intervention delivered by Virtual Human Agents (VHAs). Seven hundred fifty participants aged 45 to 75 will be recruited through Qualtrics panels. The study examines how different levels of dialectal linguistic features willingness to be screened for colorectal cancer. Participants will be randomly assigned to interact with one of four VHA conditions: a VHA using non-dialectal linguistic features, a VHA with a low level of dialectal linguistic features integrated, a VHA with a high level of dialectal linguistic features integrated, or a text-only control condition. Following the interaction, participants will complete survey measures to assess perceived willingness to be screened.

Conditions

• Colorectal Cancer

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

High Dialectal

A virtual health assistant that will consist of an interactive computer-generated doctor with voice that used high dialectal variation that will guide participants through the interaction.

BEHAVIORAL

Low Dialectal

A virtual health assistant that will consist of an interactive computer-generated doctor with voice that used low dialectal variation that will guide participants through the interaction.

BEHAVIORAL

Non-Dialectal

A virtual health assistant that will consist of an interactive computer-generated doctor with voice that used no dialectal variation that will guide participants through the interaction.

BEHAVIORAL

Text-only

A virtual health assistant that will consist of photos of the computer-generated doctor with text that will guide participants through the interaction. No voice will accompany the photos or text.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Florida

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Janice Krieger, PhD · Mayo Clinic of Jacksonville

• Kevin Tang, PhD · University of Florida

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SCREENING

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

45 Years

Max Age

75 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-06-29

Primary Completion

2023-12-18

Completion

2023-12-18

Countries

• United States

Study Locations