A Preliminary Investigation of the Role of Anthropomorphism in Designing Telehealth Bots for Older Adults

Autonomous virtual agents (VAs) are increasingly used commercially in critical information spaces such as healthcare. Existing VA research has focused on microscale interaction patterns such as usability and artificial intelligence. However, the macroscale patterns of users' information practices and their relationship with the design and adoption of VAs have been largely understudied, especially when it comes to older adults (OAs), who stand to benefit greatly from VAs. We conducted a preliminary investigation to understand the role design elements, such as anthropomorphic aspects of VAs, play in OAs' perception of VAs and in OAs' preferences for VAs' participation within their health information practices. Some unexpected findings indicate that the fidelity of anthropomorphic features influences perception in ways that are dependent on the context of the information tasks. This suggests that research on improving the design and increasing the adoption of VAs should factor the interplay between fidelity of VA representation and information context.