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Usability and User Experience Assessment of Health Care Conversational Agents Using Validated Subjective Instruments:
João Pavão1, Rute Bastardo2, Anabela Gonçalves Silva3
1Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science-INESC-TEC, Science and Technology School, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.
Background:
Digital applications based on health care conversational agents (HCAs) are increasingly being developed to support health care provision. The usability and user experience of these solutions are critical determinants of their acceptability and, consequently, their impact on health-related outcomes.
Objective:
This systematic review aims to synthesize current evidence on the use of valid and reliable subjective instruments for assessing the usability and user experience of HCAs and to examine whether assessment outcomes vary according to their technical characteristics.
Methods:
A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus from inception to February 2026. Studies were included if they used subjective instruments to evaluate the usability or user experience of HCAs.
Results:
A total of 127 studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies examined 3 categories of HCAs-text-based, voice-based, and embodied-applied to patient care, health education and prevention, health data collection, and support for daily activities among older adults. The System Usability Scale (SUS) was the most frequently used assessment instrument. Comparative analysis of SUS scores indicated higher usability ratings for text-based HCAs relative to voice-based and embodied systems. However, SUS and other subjective instruments used in the included studies may not fully capture key dimensions of usability and user experience of HCAs. Additionally, substantial heterogeneity was observed in assessment methodologies across studies.
Conclusions:
Comparative analysis suggested that text-based HCAs were associated with significantly higher SUS scores than voice-based and embodied HCAs. However, this finding should be interpreted with caution given the substantial heterogeneity across the included studies in health care application domains, study designs, evaluation contexts, participant populations, and HCAs' implementation and use characteristics, as well as the limitations of the SUS in evaluating the usability of modern HCAs. The variability in assessment approaches underscores the need for standardized protocols and the development of more context-specific evaluation frameworks to enhance methodological consistency and comparability across studies.
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