An Experimental Study on People with Early Onset Dementia interacting with Conversational Agents

What is this Study about?

The aim of this study is to explore how people with early onset dementia are using conversational AI technology to maintain social relationships and retain social connectedness. More concretely, we aim to carry out a study into people with dementia who will be interacting with a chatbot/conversational agent for one month followed by indepth interviews and questionnaires. We are interested in exploring the feelings of people with dementia, as well as their perceptions of trust, companionship and communication.

What Will Happen in This Study?

You will be asked:

●To interact with a conversational agent through an iOS application for 1 month, minimum

20 minutes per day

● To consent to the researcher having access to your conversational chatlogs

● To participate in an online interview (up to 1 hour)

● To consent to having the online interview audio-recorded

● To complete questionnaires about your experience of using the chatbot, and about how you felt (e.g. your psychological and/or mental health) during and after using the chatbot (20 minutes)

Who is Eligible to Participate in this Study?

In order to take part you must:

● Be diagnosed with dementia (early onset to mild), be 50 years old or over, and live in your house with a carer/family member

● Have no syndromes, learning and/or communication difficulties or any other difficulties that can hinder your consent

● Be able to communicate fluently in English

● Have access to an iPhone or iPad compatible with iOS 16* with access to the internet

(*click on the link to check your iOS version: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201685)

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