Michael K. Paasche‐Orlow

Hye Sun Yun, Mehdi Arjmand, Phillip Sherlock et al.

Standardized, validated questionnaires are vital tools in research and healthcare, offering dependable self-report data. Prior work has revealed that virtual agent-administered questionnaires are almost equivalent to self-administered ones in an electronic form. Despite being an engaging method, repeated use of virtual agent-administered questionnaires in longitudinal or pre-post studies can induce respondent fatigue, impacting data quality via response biases and decreased response rates. We propose using large language models (LLMs) to generate diverse questionnaire versions while retaining good psychometric properties. In a longitudinal study, participants interacted with our agent system and responded daily for two weeks to one of the following questionnaires: a standardized depression questionnaire, question variants generated by LLMs, or question variants accompanied by LLM-generated small talk. The responses were compared to a validated depression questionnaire. Psychometric testing revealed consistent covariation between the external criterion and focal measure administered across the three conditions, demonstrating the reliability and validity of the LLM-generated variants. Participants found that the variants were significantly less repetitive than repeated administrations of the same standardized questionnaire. Our findings highlight the potential of LLM-generated variants to invigorate agent-administered questionnaires and foster engagement and interest, without compromising their validity.

Farnaz Nouraei, Keith Rebello, Mina Fallah et al.

Many laypeople are motivated to improve the health behavior of their family or friends but do not know where to start, especially if the health behavior is potentially stigmatizing or controversial. We present an approach that uses virtual agents to coach community-based volunteers in health counseling techniques, such as motivational interviewing, and allows them to practice these skills in role-playing scenarios. We use this approach in a virtual agent-based system to increase COVID-19 vaccination by empowering users to influence their social network. In a between-subjects comparative design study, we test the effects of agent system interactivity and role-playing functionality on counseling outcomes, with participants evaluated by standardized patients and objective judges. We find that all versions are effective at producing peer counselors who score adequately on a standardized measure of counseling competence, and that participants were significantly more satisfied with interactive virtual agents compared to passive viewing of the training material. We discuss design implications for interpersonal skills training systems based on our findings.