The doctor's digital double: how warmth, competence, and animation promote adherence intention.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Each year, patient nonadherence to treatment advice costs the US healthcare system more than $300 billion and results in 250,000 deaths. Developing virtual consultations to promote adherence could improve public health while cutting healthcare costs and usage. However, inconsistencies in the realism of computer-animated humans may cause them to appear eerie, a phenomenon termed the uncanny valley. Eeriness could reduce a virtual doctor's credibility and patients' adherence.

Methods

In a 2 × 2 × 2 between-groups posttest-only experiment, 738 participants played the role of a patient in a hypothetical virtual consultation with a doctor. The consultation varied in the doctor's Character (good or poor bedside manner), Outcome (received a fellowship or sued for

SUBMITTER: Dai Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7924424 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature