Perceived Utilities of COVID-19 Related Chatbots in Saudi Arabia: a Cross-sectional Study

Health chatbots are increasingly being utilized in healthcare to combat COVID-19. However, few studies have explored the perception and willingness of end-users toward COVID-19-related chatbots. Furthermore, no studies have been conducted in Saudi Arabia.

This paper explored 166 end-users' perceived utilities of health chatbots in Saudi Arabia, and how their characteristics affect their perceptions.

We conducted a quantitative descriptive study by implementing an online survey. The survey asked 20 questions on participants' demographics and their perception of health chatbots' usefulness.

We found that users were more willing to use health chatbots to seek general information about COVID-19 (82.5%) over seeking information regarding COVID-19 medical treatments (72.3%). Furthermore, participants with undergraduate degrees tend to use them to learn how to prevent COVID-19's spread (P = 0.015), to self-track COVID-19 symptoms (P = 0.028), and to seek information about medication (P = 0.035) in comparison to those who had postgraduate degrees. Participants who frequently searched for health information on the internet were more likely to look for nearby medical services using health chatbots (P = 0.023). Lastly, participants who provided any sort of healthcare services information were more likely to self-assess COVID-19 symptoms by using health chatbots (P = 0.036).

Participant awareness and use of health chatbots were low; however, most had positive perceptions of these emerging technologies and displayed willingness to use them. Further research is needed to capture the real-world usability of these novel technologies by employing more rigid methodological designs (e.g, field trials).