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Efficacy of Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri for Supporting Informed Prostate Cancer Screening Decisions for
Otis L Owens1, Michael Leonard2, Aman Singh3
1College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendleton Street, Columbia, SC, USA. owenso@mailbox.sc.edu.
Insights
Virtual assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant offer some prostate cancer screening information, but lack the depth needed for informed decisions, especially for African-American men. Further improvements are necessary to ensure equitable access to critical health knowledge.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Health Informatics
- Health Disparities
Background:
- Prostate cancer disproportionately affects African-American men, necessitating informed screening decisions.
- Shared decision-making with healthcare providers is recommended for prostate cancer screening.
- Virtual assistants are increasingly used for health information, but their quality is variable.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the quality of prostate cancer screening information provided by virtual assistants (Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri).
- To assess response rates, accuracy, breadth, and credibility for supporting informed/shared screening decisions.
- To specifically examine the suitability of this information for African-American men.
Main Methods:
- Three popular virtual assistants were tested on multiple devices (tablet, cell phone, smart speaker).
- Twelve frequently asked prostate cancer screening questions were posed to each assistant.
- Responses were evaluated for rate, accuracy, breadth, and credibility.
Main Results:
- Alexa (phone/tablet) and Google Assistant (smart speaker) demonstrated the best overall performance.
- All virtual assistants scored below 75% in at least one evaluation area.
- None of the virtual assistants provided sufficient breadth of information for informed screening decisions.
Conclusions:
- Current virtual assistants do not fully support informed prostate cancer screening decisions due to limited information breadth.
- African-American men may be particularly disadvantaged by relying on virtual assistants for prostate cancer information.
- Improvements are needed to emphasize specific risks and screening guidance for African-American men.
Abstract:
Prostate cancer is the most prevalent non-skin cancer among all men, but African-Americans have morbidity and mortality at significantly higher rates than White men. To reduce this burden, authorities such as the American Cancer Society recommend that men make informed/shared screening decisions with a healthcare provider. Informed/shared screening decisions require that men have adequate prostate cancer knowledge. Virtual assistants are interactive communication technologies that have become popular for seeking health information, though information quality has been mixed. No prior research has investigated the quality of prostate cancer information disseminated by virtual assistants. The purpose of this study was to determine the response rates, accuracy, breadth, and credibility of three popular virtual assistants (Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri) for supporting informed/shared prostate cancer screening decisions for African-American men. Each virtual assistant was evaluated on a tablet, cell phone, and smart speaker using 12 frequently asked screening questions. Responses were rated dichotomously (i.e., yes/no), and analyses were conducted using SPSS. Alexa on a phone or tablet and Google Assistant on a smart speaker had the best overall performance based on a combination of response, accuracy, and credibility scores. All other assistants scored below 75% in one or more areas. Additionally, all virtual assistants lacked the breadth to support an informed/shared prostate cancer screening decision. African-American men may be especially disadvantaged by using virtual assistants for prostate cancer information because of the lack of emphasis on their greater disease risk, higher mortality rates, and appropriate ages at which they should begin screening conversations.
