A reusable framework for health counseling dialogue systems based on a behavioral medicine ontology
Open accessAbstract
Automated approaches to promoting health behavior change, such as exercise, diet, and medication adherence promotion, have the potential for significant positive impact on society. We describe a theory-driven computational model of dialogue that simulates a human health counselor who is helping his or her clients to change via a series of conversations over time. Applications built using this model can be used to change the health behavior of patients and consumers at low cost over a wide range of media including the web and the phone. The model is implemented using an OWL ontology of health behavior change concepts and a public standard task modeling language (ANSI/CEA-2018). We demonstrate the power of modeling dialogue using an ontology and task model by showing how an exercise promotion system developed in the framework was re-purposed for diet promotion with 98% reuse of the abstract models. Evaluations of these two systems are presented, demonstrating high levels of fidelity to best practices in health behavior change counseling.
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Text-based and embodied conversational agents can currently be implemented using existing frameworks dedicated to digital health interventions, but there is no such framework for VCAs.
“For instance, text-based and embodied conversational agents can currently be implemented using existing frameworks dedicated to digital health interventions [72-75]; however, to the best of our knowledge, there is no such framework for VCAs.”
From Voice-Based Conversational Agents for the Prevention and Management of Chronic and Mental Health Conditions: Systematic Literature Review (2021) · cites this paper as [75]
An ontology can provide the conceptual framework to facilitate the rapid or automated construction of BIT applications.
“An ontology is a formal language used to create a map of a domain, which can provide the conceptual framework to facilitate the rapid or automated construction of BIT applications [43].”
From The Behavioral Intervention Technology Model: An Integrated Conceptual and Technological Framework for eHealth and mHealth Interventions (2014) · cites this paper as [43]
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Background
- Authors
- Bickmore, T. W., Schulman, D., & Sidner, C. L.
- Affiliations
- Northeastern University (US)
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bickmore, Timothy W.
- Venue
- Journal of Biomedical Informatics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-04
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 183-197
- ISSN
- 1532-0464 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3063319
- OpenAlex
- W2078314274
- Cited by
- 147
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 16.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Biomedical Informatics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- NIH National Library of Medicine (R21LM008995)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Innovation in Digital Healthcare Systems
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Keywords
- health behavior change, OWL ontologies, dialogue modeling, physical activity promotion, medication adherence, model reuse, chatbots
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Behavior Therapy, Behavioral Medicine, Counseling, Female, Health Promotion, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Health Behavior
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