LINDA, THE VIRTUAL HUMAN AS A COACH
If you want to try an example of Kognito’s approach, there’s Linda, an app
designed to help patients understand various treatment options in the form of a
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Talk to Someone: Triple Negative Breast Cancer webpage; virtual avatars like
Linda have been used in various types of medical simulations.
“She is a fully articulated and emotionally responsive virtual human and speaks
to the real-life experience of a survivor. She tailors her messages to each user’s
knowledge level, concerns, and overall motivation,” Goldman explained. The
simulation is publicly available and funded by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC).
Linda is designed to respond to users’ queries; navigating a conversation with
Linda is similar to playing a turn-based role-playing game, except with a focus
on informing patients about the most viable treatment options for triple
negative breast cancer (TNBC) diagnosis.
“Linda assists patients posing their questions about TNBC, chemotherapy, life
during treatment, and survivorship,” Goldman said. As a coach, Linda helps
patients who may have otherwise not considered chemotherapy understand the
pros and cons of treatment. During their conversation with Linda, users are
asked the following two questions at the beginning and again at the end of the
simulation: “Do you have enough information to make a treatment decision?”
and “Are you planning to pursue chemotherapy?”