The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been shown to prevent several types of cancers; however, vaccination rates remain suboptimal. Effective patient-provider communication is key to promoting vaccination but is often hindered by various clinical barriers. Speech bots could be a promising solution by addressing common barriers and facilitating HPV vaccination uptake. We used a "conversation first" design approach to develop the interaction for speech bots to deliver HPV vaccination counseling to young adults. Two counseling strategies were developed and piloted: motivational interviewing (MI) and the theory-based approaches. Wizard of Oz experiments were conducted with young female adults (n = 24). Preliminary evidence shows that MI yielded higher usability than the theory-based approach. The theory-based approach significantly improved HPV vaccine beliefs and attitudes. These findings led to the development of a hybrid conversational model for future pilot testing and the eventual creation of a computable format for automated speech bots.
Keywords: cancer; chat bots; conversational agents; health belief model; motivational interviewing; patient-provider communication.