<p>Just like real doctors and nurses, online health tools with good - but controlled - communication skills can promote healthier lifestyles, a new study by Indian-origin researchers has found.<br /><br /></p>.<p>However, if their tone is conversational, these tools may lull users into a false sense of comfort, researchers said. According to researchers of Pennsylvania Sate University and University of Connecticut in the US, display of interconnected questions and answers promotes a feeling of contingency that leads to better engagement with the site.<br /><br />Better engagement may increase the likelihood that the user will adopt strategies for better health. "When you are having this back and forth interaction with a system, you are having a conversation with that system.<br /><br />"We think that interactivity has been achieved when the system's output is contingent on the user's input in a continuous threaded way," said S Shyam Sundar of Pennsylvania State University.<br /><br />Although the back-and-forth feel of a conversation could lead to improved health intentions, a more conversational tone in the messages may make users feel less susceptible to health risks such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, researchers said.<br /><br />The study found that when the online tool used short phrases, such as "Mm-hmm" and "Go on" to promote an informal conversational tone, users felt less susceptible to health risks, according to Saraswathi Bellur, assistant professor at University of Connecticut.<br /><br />"This conversational tone may make them warm and fuzzy, but that is not what you want to do with a health assessment tool.<br /><br />"If you want people to stand up and take action, this type of friendly turn-taking softens the effect. However, if the goal of the interaction is to promote a sense of comfort among individuals, the same conversational tone strategy could work well, with the online tool acting like a virtual coach and providing reassurance," she added.<br /><br />Researchers studied 172 undergraduate students. Participants were assigned to one of six versions of a health risk assessment website. The sites were designed to have either low, medium, or high interactivity with either conversational or no conversational tone.<br /><br />Participants took part in a question and answer session delivered through the website's instant messaging interface. The study found that low-interactivity site did not display any signs or visual cues of an ongoing interaction between the user and the system.<br /><br />The medium-interactivity site visually called out the user's response in a box titled "Your response." In the high-interactivity condition, the system referred to the user's previous answers by displaying "previously, you mentioned" or "earlier, you reported" following their answers.<br /><br />The study was published in the journal Human Communication Research.</p>
<p>Just like real doctors and nurses, online health tools with good - but controlled - communication skills can promote healthier lifestyles, a new study by Indian-origin researchers has found.<br /><br /></p>.<p>However, if their tone is conversational, these tools may lull users into a false sense of comfort, researchers said. According to researchers of Pennsylvania Sate University and University of Connecticut in the US, display of interconnected questions and answers promotes a feeling of contingency that leads to better engagement with the site.<br /><br />Better engagement may increase the likelihood that the user will adopt strategies for better health. "When you are having this back and forth interaction with a system, you are having a conversation with that system.<br /><br />"We think that interactivity has been achieved when the system's output is contingent on the user's input in a continuous threaded way," said S Shyam Sundar of Pennsylvania State University.<br /><br />Although the back-and-forth feel of a conversation could lead to improved health intentions, a more conversational tone in the messages may make users feel less susceptible to health risks such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, researchers said.<br /><br />The study found that when the online tool used short phrases, such as "Mm-hmm" and "Go on" to promote an informal conversational tone, users felt less susceptible to health risks, according to Saraswathi Bellur, assistant professor at University of Connecticut.<br /><br />"This conversational tone may make them warm and fuzzy, but that is not what you want to do with a health assessment tool.<br /><br />"If you want people to stand up and take action, this type of friendly turn-taking softens the effect. However, if the goal of the interaction is to promote a sense of comfort among individuals, the same conversational tone strategy could work well, with the online tool acting like a virtual coach and providing reassurance," she added.<br /><br />Researchers studied 172 undergraduate students. Participants were assigned to one of six versions of a health risk assessment website. The sites were designed to have either low, medium, or high interactivity with either conversational or no conversational tone.<br /><br />Participants took part in a question and answer session delivered through the website's instant messaging interface. The study found that low-interactivity site did not display any signs or visual cues of an ongoing interaction between the user and the system.<br /><br />The medium-interactivity site visually called out the user's response in a box titled "Your response." In the high-interactivity condition, the system referred to the user's previous answers by displaying "previously, you mentioned" or "earlier, you reported" following their answers.<br /><br />The study was published in the journal Human Communication Research.</p>