When Chatbots Meet Patients: One-Year Prospective Study of Conversations Between Patients With Breast Cancer and a Chatbot

Abstract

Background

A chatbot is a software that interacts with users by simulating a human conversation through text or voice via smartphones or computers. It could be a solution to follow up with patients during their disease while saving time for health care providers.

Objective

The aim of this study was to evaluate one year of conversations between patients with breast cancer and a chatbot.

Methods

Wefight Inc designed a chatbot (Vik) to empower patients with breast cancer and their relatives. Vik responds to the fears and concerns of patients with breast cancer using personalized insights through text messages. We conducted a prospective study by analyzing the users’ and patients’ data, their usage duration, their interest in the various educational contents proposed, and their level of interactivity. Patients were women with breast cancer or under remission.

Results

A total of 4737 patients were included. Results showed that an average of 132,970 messages exchanged per month was observed between patients and the chatbot, Vik. Thus, we calculated the average medication adherence rate over 4 weeks by using a prescription reminder function, and we showed that the more the patients used the chatbot, the more adherent they were. Patients regularly left positive comments and recommended Vik to their friends. The overall satisfaction was 93.95% (900/958). When asked what Vik meant to them and what Vik brought them, 88.00% (943/958) said that Vik provided them with support and helped them track their treatment effectively.

Conclusions

We demonstrated that it is possible to obtain support through a chatbot since Vik improved the medication adherence rate of patients with breast cancer.