. Collecting complete and accurate outcome data directly from research participants is becoming increasingly important. Clinical researchers needs a cost-e?ective approach to capture high-quality patient-reported outcomes. Typically, data captured directly from participants is through self-administered questionnaires or through a human interviewer, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. An e?ective new data capture technology that can collect patient-reported outcomes with the engagement of human interviews at the cost of self-administered surveys would build tremendous capacity for clinical research. Dokbot, LLC and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) have partnered to develop Dokbot, a simple, scalable chatbot that uses text-based conversations to collect data from clinical research participants using the browser on their mobile devices. Chatbots are an innovative and e?ective way to capture data for clinical research. Unfortunately, current chatbot technologies do not adequately support data capture in clinical research. Dokbot can be adapted to enhance data capture in clinical research. However, signi?cant adaptation, improvement, and re?nement is needed to extend and optimize Dokbot for it to ideally support clinical research. To achieve this, we ?rst need to understand opportunities and barriers among clinical research stakeholders using Dokbot (Aim 1) and then adapt and iteratively re?ne a functional prototype of Dokbot for clinical research (Aim 2). By demonstrating the feasibility of Dokbot as a simple, low-cost approach for collecting data in clinical research settings, we will have a clear path to develop the technology, expertise, and evidence to make a signi?cant impact on improving clinical data collection for research. With support through the STTR award, Dokbot could become an e?ective tool to help clinical researchers improve the quality and e?ciency of data from research participants

Public Health Relevance

. Data capture tools for clinical research that provide high-quality information at a low cost are needed. Dokbot is a simple, scalable tool that uses intuitive text-based conversations to collect data from patients. The goal of this project is to develop a functional prototype of Dokbot and demonstrate the feasibility as an approach for data collection in clinical research settings.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Type
Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Grants - Phase I (R41)
Project #
1R41LM013419-01
Application #
10016887
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Ye, Jane
Project Start
2020-09-08
Project End
2021-09-07
Budget Start
2020-09-08
Budget End
2021-09-07
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2020
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Dokbot, LLC
Department
Type
DUNS #
117009052
City
Charleston
State
SC
Country
United States
Zip Code
29425