Chatbot for Online Support Groups to Treat Tobacco Addiction
Trial statusNot yet recruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-75
SponsorUniversity of California, Irvine
About this trial
Investigators will conduct a pilot RCT to test the efficacy of an intelligent chatbot to aid small, private, quit-smoking peer support groups. Participants will be randomized to an intervention arm (chatbot-enhanced support group), or a control arm (support group only). In the intervention arm (N=60), each support group will be connected to an intelligent chatbot running on a secure local server as a trained LLM (large language model). The intelligent chatbot will function as an additional member of the GroupMe support group, but a member that only responds if no human does so. In the control arm (N=60), the support groups will be connected to an automated message-posting bot running on a secure local server. This automated message-posting bot will lack the response capabilities of the intelligent chatbot. But both the intelligent chatbot and the automated message-posting bot will post a pre-written daily discussion topic to encourage participants to discuss issues known to facilitate tobacco cessation or group bonding.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
Cigarette smokers (can also use e-cigarettes)
Ages 18-75 years
English speaking
Smart phone with unlimited data
Disqualifiers
No NRT health contraindications
5+ cigarettes per day
Not an illicit drug user
Not a daily marijuana/cannabis user
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
online quit-smoking support group with intelligent chatbot
BehavioralIn the intervention arm (N=60), each quit-smoking peer support group will be connected to an intelligent chatbot running on a secure local server as a trained LLM (large language model). This chatbot will monitor all posts in the group and seek to comprehend these posts using the training it has been provided. If a group member makes a post and no one responds with about 10 seconds, the chatbot will respond using one of its 25 response libraries created from knowledge bases, which contain over 1k responses in total. In effect, the intelligent chatbot will function as an additional member of the GroupMe support group, but a member that only responds if no human does so.
online quit-smoking support group with unintelligent bot
BehavioralIn the control arm (N=60), the support groups will be connected to our original automated message-posting bot running on our secure local server. This automated message-posting bot will lack the response capabilities of the intelligent chatbot; it will not respond to posts if no human group member does but, instead, remain silent. However, it will post the same daily discussion topic, and at the same time of day, as the intelligent chatbot.
Treatment groups
120 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: test: support group with intelligent chatbotExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: control: support group with unintelligent botActive comparator 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Overall posts per participant
Each night, our study website will download each group's past 24-hour posts in both the test and control conditions labeled by date and poster.
Time frame
End of 90-day interventionSecondary outcomes
1
Bio-confirmed smoking abstinence
We will measure smoking abstinence at 90-day intervention end, bioconfirmed with a saliva test, to conduct a power analysis for a larger RCT.
Time frame
End of 90-day intervention2
NRT use at 1-month
In a survey (using email, text or phone), 30 days after intervention start, we will measure past 7-day use of Nicotine Replacement Therapy or NRT, for descriptive purposes, e.g. to ensure no adverse effects on NRT use.
Time frame
30 days after intervention start3
nrt use at intervention end
In a survey (using email, text or phone) at the end of the 90-day intervention, we will measure past 7-day use of Nicotine Replacement Therapy or NRT, for descriptive purposes, e.g. to ensure no adverse effects on NRT use.
Time frame
End of 90-day interventionLocations
Sponsors and contacts
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Source ClinicalTrials.gov
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