Improving User Experience of Virtual Health Assistants: Scoping Review

Background Virtual assistants can be used to deliver innovative health programs that provide appealing, personalized, and convenient health advice and support at scale and low cost. Design characteristics that influence the look and feel of the virtual assistant, such as visual appearance or language features, may significantly influence users’ experience and engagement with the assistant. Objective This scoping review aims to provide an overview of the experimental research examining how design characteristics of virtual health assistants affect user experience, summarize research findings of experimental research examining how design characteristics of virtual health assistants affect user experience, and provide recommendations for the design of virtual health assistants if sufficient evidence exists. Methods We searched 5 electronic databases (Web of Science, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and ACM Digital Library) to identify the studies that used an experimental design to compare the effects of design characteristics between 2 or more versions of an interactive virtual health assistant on user experience among adults. Data were synthesized descriptively. Health domains, design characteristics, and outcomes were categorized, and descriptive statistics were used to summarize the body of research. Results for each study were categorized as positive, negative, or no effect, and a matrix of the design characteristics and outcome categories was constructed to summarize the findings. Results The database searches identified 6879 articles after the removal of duplicates. We included 48 articles representing 45 unique studies in the review. The most common health domains were mental health and physical activity. Studies most commonly examined design characteristics in the categories of visual design or conversational style and relational behavior and assessed outcomes in the categories of personality, satisfaction, relationship, or use intention. Over half of the design characteristics were examined by only 1 study. Results suggest that empathy and relational behavior and self-disclosure are related to more positive user experience. Results also suggest that if a human-like avatar is used, realistic rendering and medical attire may potentially be related to more positive user experience; however, more research is needed to confirm this. Conclusions There is a growing body of scientific evidence examining the impact of virtual health assistants’ design characteristics on user experience. Taken together, data suggest that the look and feel of a virtual health assistant does affect user experience. Virtual health assistants that show empathy, display nonverbal relational behaviors, and disclose personal information about themselves achieve better user experience. At present, the evidence base is broad, and the studies are typically small in scale and highly heterogeneous. Further research, particularly using longitudinal research designs with repeated user interactions, is needed to inform the optimal design of virtual health assistants.

Who’s Afraid of Divorce? Sexual Minority Young Adults’ Perspectives on Divorce

Research suggests that young adults commonly approve of divorce but still feel anxious about the possibility of divorcing themselves due to anticipated emotional and financial repercussions. However, the existing research focuses exclusively on heterosexual young adults, which is a significant oversight given the recent legalization of same-sex marriage. As such, we rely primarily on qualitative data from an online survey of unmarried sexual minority young adults (n = 257) to examine how they think about divorce. Our results suggest that sexual minority young adults have somewhat distinct perspectives compared to heterosexual young adults. In particular, they anticipate being quite willing to divorce under a broad set of circumstances, and they report minimal anxieties regarding the prospect of divorce. Given documented associations between attitudes toward divorce in young adulthood and subsequent relational behavior (e.g., cohabitation, marital delay), we conclude by discussing what our results suggest about sexual minority young adults’ relationships in the era of marriage equality.

Improving User Experience of Virtual Health Assistants: Scoping Review (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Virtual assistants can be used to deliver innovative health programs that provide appealing, personalized, and convenient health advice and support at scale and low cost. Design characteristics that influence the look and feel of the virtual assistant, such as visual appearance or language features, may significantly influence users’ experience and engagement with the assistant. OBJECTIVE This scoping review aims to provide an overview of the experimental research examining how design characteristics of virtual health assistants affect user experience, summarize research findings of experimental research examining how design characteristics of virtual health assistants affect user experience, and provide recommendations for the design of virtual health assistants if sufficient evidence exists. METHODS We searched 5 electronic databases (Web of Science, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and ACM Digital Library) to identify the studies that used an experimental design to compare the effects of design characteristics between 2 or more versions of an interactive virtual health assistant on user experience among adults. Data were synthesized descriptively. Health domains, design characteristics, and outcomes were categorized, and descriptive statistics were used to summarize the body of research. Results for each study were categorized as positive, negative, or no effect, and a matrix of the design characteristics and outcome categories was constructed to summarize the findings. RESULTS The database searches identified 6879 articles after the removal of duplicates. We included 48 articles representing 45 unique studies in the review. The most common health domains were mental health and physical activity. Studies most commonly examined design characteristics in the categories of visual design or conversational style and relational behavior and assessed outcomes in the categories of personality, satisfaction, relationship, or use intention. Over half of the design characteristics were examined by only 1 study. Results suggest that empathy and relational behavior and self-disclosure are related to more positive user experience. Results also suggest that if a human-like avatar is used, realistic rendering and medical attire may potentially be related to more positive user experience; however, more research is needed to confirm this. CONCLUSIONS There is a growing body of scientific evidence examining the impact of virtual health assistants’ design characteristics on user experience. Taken together, data suggest that the look and feel of a virtual health assistant does affect user experience. Virtual health assistants that show empathy, display nonverbal relational behaviors, and disclose personal information about themselves achieve better user experience. At present, the evidence base is broad, and the studies are typically small in scale and highly heterogeneous. Further research, particularly using longitudinal research designs with repeated user interactions, is needed to inform the optimal design of virtual health assistants.

Generative Engagement: Conceptualizing A Relational and Cross-Boundary Approach to Human Development and Sustainability in Today’s Divided World

Grounded in the findings from a case study of a nonprofit educational consulting firm that specialized in math literacy reform and operated throughout the American South during the 1990s–early 2000s, this paper presents Generative Engagement (GE), a practice-centered process model on relational behavior that fosters prosocial interaction and collaboration among social identity groups in demographically diverse, highly stratified social environments. The paper describes the dynamic interplay between generativity and inclusivity, presents four different types of relational engagement that result from this interplay and offers five testable propositions. The paper concludes with a discussion on how cross-boundary leaders, work teams, organizations, and communities can better understand, develop, and demonstrate generative relational behavior that enhances work group efficacy and sustains the greater public good. Along with encouraging scholarly exploration of GE, the generative engagement model (GEM) is offered as a tool for inspiring and equipping development and use of generative approaches to leadership, collaboration, and transformative change within organizations.

Institutional Pressures and Megaproject Social Responsibility Behavior: A Conditional Process Model

Megaproject social responsibility (MSR) is a critical factor regarding the sustainable delivery of megaprojects and MSR behavior to implement MSR. However, the questions of which factors effectively promote MSR behavior and how these factors work remain underexamined. Thus, this study aims to examine how the external institutional pressure and internal factors composed of relational behavior and pure altruistic values affect MSR behavior. On the basis of a conditional process analysis conducted on a set of survey data from various organizations involved in megaprojects in China, the results revealed that the higher the degree of mimetic pressure, the higher the degree of MSR behavior. Concurrently, relational behavior mediates the relationship between normative pressures and MSR behavior. Relational behavior also drives MSR behavior, and pure altruistic values moderate the relationships between institutional pressures and MSR behavior. These findings also provide practical suggestions for policymakers on the implementation and governance of MSR.

RbDT: A computerized task system based on transposition for the continuous analysis of relational behavior dynamics in humans

The most extensively paradigm employed for the analysis of relational behavior is the transposition task. Nevertheless, It has two important limitations for its use in humans. The first one is the “ceiling effect” reported in linguistic participants. The second limitation is that the standard transposition task, being a simple choice task between two stimuli, does not include active behavioral patterns, and its record, as relevant factors in emergence of relational behavior. In the present work, a challenging multi-object task based on transposition integrated with recording software is presented. This paradigm requires behavioral active patterns to form stimuli compounds with a given relational criteria. The paradigm is composed of three arrangements: a) a bank of stimuli, b) sample relational compounds, and c) comparison relational compounds. The task consists of the participant constructing two comparison relational compounds by dragging figures of a bank of stimuli with the same relation shown by the sample relational compounds. These factors conform an integrated system that can be manipulated in an individual or in integrative manner. The software records discrete responses (e.g. stimuli selections, placements) and continuous responses (e.g. tracking of cursor movements, figure dragging). The obtained data, data analysis and graphical representations proposed are compatible with frameworks that assume an active nature of the attentional and perceptual processes and an integrated and continuous system between the perceiver and the environment. The proposed paradigm deepens the systematic study of relational behavior in humans in the framework of the transposition paradigm and expands it to continuous analysis of interaction between active patterns and the dynamics of relational behavior.

Does corporate social responsibility reduce financial distress? Evidence from emerging economy

This work investigates the relational behavior of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its effect on firms' financial distress (FD). The population of the study consists of all the non-financial firms presently listed in the equity market of Pakistan. The yearly data set of 213 non-financial companies is selected from 2005 to 2017 with total observations of 2769. The analysis of the study based on OLS regression, fixed effect, and random effect models. The study also uses the GMM technique to guard against potential problems of endogeneity and heteroskedasticity that arise from the use of panel data. Results indicate that higher investment in CSR leads to reduced/lower financial distress. It suggests that investment in CSR raises the reputation and creditworthiness of firms. Key findings are robust as confirmed by alternative proxies of financial distress. Overall findings advocate that CSR helps in reducing default risk or financial distress and creates a better corporate environment that ultimately improves organizations' economic outlook.