Delineamento do chatbot Ivo: um estudo de desenvolvimento de um protótipo de educação em saúde sobre dor lombar

Abstract

Introduction: Low back pain is the leading cause of years lived with disability worldwide. Access to quality information has a significant impact on the prognosis of the condition, and chatbots can be a useful tool to assist individuals with low back pain. Objective: To develop an operational chatbot prototype to be made available remotely and to target users with low back pain in primary health care. Methods: The project was carried out from the second half of 2020 to 2022. The research team was composed of physiotherapists, professionals from the Computer Science course, and students from both areas. Based on the series of studies produced in 2018 by The Lancet magazine, we collected information from the literature to choose key topics addressed in the chatbot. Informative dialogues, choice trees, and a functional prototype were produced and submitted to internal testing by the research team itself. Results: Production of a functional prototype that will be accessed through social networks. The IVO bot provides quality scientific information in an accessible way, providing general knowledge about low back pain and its prognosis, helping to identify risk factors, encouraging lifestyle changes and self-care, and providing information about support services for low back pain. Conclusion: The chatbot is functional and has the ability to help countless individuals; however, user testing should be carried out in the future to identify its applicability and acceptance by the population.