Towards an ontology-based medication conversational agent for PrEP and PEP

Area of Science:

• * Medical Informatics
• * Public Health
• * Immunology

Background:

• * Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), posing significant health risks despite recent infection decreases.
• * Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) are effective HIV prevention strategies, but low adherence rates hinder their impact.
• * Limited patient-provider communication and a lack of accessible information contribute to poor adherence to HIV preventive medications.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To develop an automated, ontology-based method for communicating information about PrEP and PEP.
• * To create a system that facilitates conversational agents for patient education on HIV prevention.
• * To address communication barriers and improve patient understanding of HIV preventive medications.

Main Methods:

• * Development of an ontology to model information related to PrEP and PEP.
• * Implementation of an automated conversation system using the ontology.
• * Deployment capability for live conversational agents to interact with users.

Main Results:

• * An ontology-based method for automated communication regarding PrEP and PEP was successfully developed.
• * The system facilitates automated conversations, enabling users to ask questions.
• * The approach provides a model for machine-user interaction concerning HIV prevention medication.

Conclusions:

• * Automated communication systems, powered by ontologies, can effectively disseminate information about HIV prevention medications.
• * This technology can help overcome communication barriers and improve patient knowledge and adherence to PrEP and PEP.
• * The developed method offers a scalable solution for enhancing patient education in HIV prevention efforts.