None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This study will investigate whether a digital companion is a feasible intervention to reduce loneliness in high risk individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants will be 30 adults with English fluency aged 70 years or older, or aged 18 years or older with at least one underlying medical condition that increases risk of developing a severe illness if COVID-19 is contracted. Participants will be randomly allocated to the intervention or waitlist control group. The intervention requires participants to interact with a digital companion daily for at least 15 minutes per day over a one-week period. The interaction will involve completing ‘resilience’ modules that include the following loneliness intervention techniques: increasing informational social support, increasing opportunity for social interaction, and increasing social skills. After one week of interaction, participants will be required to fill in a questionnaire that evaluates acceptability, loneliness, closeness to the digital companion, COVID-19 related distress, stress, mood, and flourishing. Participants will be provided a $30 shopping voucher as compensation. It is anticipated that the digital companion will be a feasible intervention. Results will inform the design of a larger scale randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a digital companion intervention at reducing loneliness.
Interventions
Participants will be randomly allocated to the digital companion intervention or a waitlist control group. Participants in the intervention group will be required to interact with a digital companion daily for at least 15 minutes per day over a one-week period. The digital companion will be a digital human, which is an animated, embodied conversational agent that uses artificial intelligence to provide social and emotional engagement. The interaction will involve completing two ‘resilience’ modu
Participants will be randomly allocated to the digital companion intervention or a waitlist control group. Participants in the intervention group will be required to interact with a digital companion daily for at least 15 minutes per day over a one-week period. The digital companion will be a digital human, which is an animated, embodied conversational agent that uses artificial intelligence to provide social and emotional engagement. The interaction will involve completing two ‘resilience’ module with a digital companion. One module includes the following loneliness intervention techniques: increasing social support, increasing opportunity for social interaction, and increasing social skills. For example, participants will be encouraged to contact someone from their existing social network. A second 'resilience' module includes techniques for reducing loneliness-related distress such as psychoeducation about coping skills and a deep breathing exercise. Participants will be required to participate in at least one resilience module activity per day and then they will have the choice to complete other activities with the digital companion. Some of the other activities participants can do with the digital companion include finding out information about mental health resources and COVID-19. Participants will give a minimum of 1 hour 45 minutes total time to the study over a one week period (at least 15 minutes of daily interaction plus completion of two 15-minute questionnaires). Participation will be completely remote and online, and participants will take part individually from their place of residence. Participants will be sent a daily text reminder to interact with the digital companion. Intervention adherence will be assessed by a self-reported daily use measure administered in the post-intervention questionnaire after one week of interaction. The digital companion intervention can be accessed via the following URL: https://www.bellahelps.com
Sponsors
The University of Auckland
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria are adults aged 70 years or older, or adults aged 18 years or older with at least one of the following medical conditions: A serious respiratory disease (such as chronic lung disease or moderate to severe asthma), a serious heart condition, an immunocompromised condition (such as undergoing cancer treatment, smoking-related illness, bone marrow or organ transplantation, haematologic neoplasms, immune deficiency, uncontrolled HIV or AIDs, prolonged use of corticosteroids and/or other immune weakening medications such as disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs), a BMI of 40 or higher, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, undergoing dialysis, liver disease, and/or a pregnancy at the third trimester stage. All participants must have English fluency and access to a computer and internet connection. Participants in the 70 years and older age group must not have cognitive decline.
Exclusion criteria
Participants will be excluded if they are found to not have English fluency or they do not have access to a computer and/or internet connection. Participants in the 70 year old and above age group will be excluded if they have cognitive decline as indicated by a score of 24 or lower on the Mini Mental State Exam which will be administered as part of the eligibility screen.
Outcome results
None listed