Development and Evaluation of a Child Vaccination Chatbot Real-Time Consultation Messenger Service during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The decreased rate of children’s vaccination has resulted in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, and vaccination hesitancy is being brought about by the uncertainty caused by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. With this study, we aimed to assess the efficacy of a child vaccination chatbot based on changes in variables such as vaccination information, motivation, self-efficacy, and vaccination behavioral intention. From 30 January to 15 February 2020, 65 parents raising children ≤35 months old who were expected to be vaccinated within three months participated in the trial through online recruitment. Participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (n = 34) or the control group (n = 31) and were followed up with over a period of 12 weeks. During this period, both groups of participants were provided with vaccination schedule reminders. The experimental group were additionally provided with vaccination-related information and motivation boosters by a chatbot (real-time consultation messenger service); the control group was provided the same information by brochure. Comparing both groups, the experimental group that used the chatbot scored higher on vaccination information, motivation, self-efficacy, and vaccination behavioral intention than the control group. This suggests that the chatbot provided useful and timely information to parents, increasing vaccination motivation, self-efficacy, and vaccination rates. This study provides evidence that chatbots are useful tools to encourage immunization through the provision of reminders and real-time consultation messenger services during the global health crisis and beyond.