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REVIEW
Contents Vol 19(5)

Effectiveness and acceptability of conversational agents for sexual health promotion: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Divyaa Balaji https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0654-467X A * , Linwei He B , Stefano Giani C , Tibor Bosse D , Reinout Wiers E and Gert-Jan de Bruijn F
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Amsterdam School for Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

B Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands.

C University Library, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

D Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

E Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

F Department of Communication Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.

* Correspondence to: d.balaji@uva.nl

Handling Editor: Matthew Hogben

Sexual Health 19(5) 391-405 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH22016
Submitted: 30 January 2022  Accepted: 16 June 2022   Published: 22 July 2022

© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Digital health interventions for sexual health promotion have evolved considerably alongside innovations in technology. Despite these efforts, studies have shown that they do not consistently result in the desired sexual health outcomes. This could be attributed to low levels of user engagement, which can hinder digital health intervention effectiveness, as users do not engage with the system enough to be exposed to the intervention components. It has been suggested that conversational agents (automated two-way communication systems e.g. Alexa) have the potential to overcome the limitations of prior systems and promote user engagement through the increased interactivity offered by bidirectional, natural language-based interactions. The present review, therefore, provides an overview of the effectiveness and user acceptability of conversational agents for sexual health promotion. A systematic search of seven databases provided 4534 records, and after screening, 31 articles were included in this review. A narrative synthesis of results was conducted for effectiveness and acceptability outcomes, with the former supplemented by a meta-analysis conducted on a subset of studies. Findings provide preliminary support for the effectiveness of conversational agents for promoting sexual health, particularly treatment adherence. These conversational agents were found to be easy to use and useful, and importantly, resulted in high levels of satisfaction, use and intentions to reuse, whereas user evaluations regarding the quality of information left room for improvement. The results can inform subsequent efforts to design and evaluate these interventions, and offer insight into additional user experience constructs identified outside of current technology acceptance models, which can be incorporated into future theoretical developments.

Keywords: chatbot, conversational agent, digital health intervention, HIV, meta-analysis, mHealth, review, sexual health.


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